EKA Arena (formerly The Arena/TransStadia Arena) is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, located near

Kankaria Lake Kankaria Lake is the largest lake in Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is located in the south-eastern part of the city, in the Maninagar area. A lakefront is developed around it, which has many public attractions such as a zoo, toy ...

. The stadium was officially opened on 7 October 2016. It was built in a public-private partnership between the

Government of Gujarat The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...

and SE TransStadia, a company led by entrepreneur Udit Sheth. The stadium seats 20,000 spectators in its main

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

configuration. It is capable of being partitioned into an

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

, allowing it to host other sporting events (such as

kabaddi Kabaddi (, ) is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players. It is one of the traditional games of South Asia. In this game, a raider enters the opposing half of the court to touch defenders and attempt to return within 30 ...

and

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

History

TransStadia was established by entrepreneur Udit Sheth after being introduced to British footballer and stadium consultant Paul Fletcher. Sheth sought to build a multi-purpose stadium on an otherwise-unused property in Gujarat, licensing technology from Fletcher's company StadiArena to allow part of the facility to be converted into an indoor arena to maximise its utilisation. Sheth stated that the design of the stadium and its facilities were intended to meet the needs of players, spectators, and broadcasters, including training facilities, ensuring there were no obstructed views and adequate fibreoptic connections for

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

, and working with Star Sports officials to plan the necessary infrastructure for broadcasting. He cited

Amsterdam Arena The Johan Cruyff Arena ( ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of association football, football club AFC Ajax, Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to ...

, the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium (whose former site is now occupied by the Tokyo Dome Hotel and a plaza for this stadium). In Japan, it is often us ...

, and

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

as influences on its overall design. The facility cost ₹550 crore to construct, as part of a public-private partnership with the state government; Sheth explained that "the project would not have been viable if we decided to charge commercial market value rent and still expected sports to develop. A regular project will recover money in around five years while we will do it in seven to nine years." Its indoor arena hosted its facility's first sporting event — the

2016 Kabaddi World Cup Kabbadi World Cup may refer to: * Kabaddi World Cup (International Kabaddi Federation), an international competition organised by International Kabaddi Federation * Kabaddi World Cup (World Kabaddi), an international competition organised by Worl ...

—in November 2016. A formal inauguration ceremony was held 30 June 2017, attended by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

and other political and sporting dignitaries. During a speech at the ceremony, Sheth referred to The Arena as "the most modern stadium in the world".

Major events

Kabaddi

The Arena hosted the Kabaddi World Cup in 2016. It has hosted legs of the

Pro Kabaddi League The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) is an Indian professional Kabaddi league for men. It premiered in 2014 and airs on Star Sports. It is the most popular kabaddi league in the world and the third most watched sports league in India after the India ...

, serving as designated home arena of the Gujarat Giants.

Football

In July 2019, the stadium hosted the 2019 Intercontinental Cup, marking the first international football matches held at The Arena. It was to host matches during the

2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, later postponed and renamed as the 2021 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup before its cancellation, was originally going to be the 7th edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's y ...

, but the tournament was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. India were awarded the 2022 tournament, but Ahmedabad was not named a host city. It hosted football during the

2022 National Games of India The 2022 National Games of India, also known as the ''36th National Games of India'' and informally as Gujarat 2022, was the 36th edition of the National Games of India and was held in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhav ...

References

External links