The People's Football Stadium is a football stadium located in Lyari, a neighbourhood in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. The stadium can accommodate 25,000 spectators, and has an upgradable

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 40,000. Owned by the

Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Karachi Metropolitan Corporation () is a public corporation and governing body to provide municipal services in most of Karachi, the capital of Sindh. History 1846 Karachi Conservancy Board was established to control cholera epidemics in ...

, the stadium serves as one of the home venues for the

Pakistan national football team The Pakistan national football team () represents Pakistan in men's international Association football, football in FIFA-authorized events and is controlled by the Pakistan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Pakistan. Paki ...

. The stadium is part of the ''People's Sports Complex'' which also houses a

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

arena having capacity of 5,000 spectators, and a gymnasium sports complex where indoor sports like

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

are played.

History

The stadium was built in 1988, and opened on 9 December 1995 by the provincial government

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

and Prime Minister

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...

. Covering an area of , it was constructed in place of four football training pitches that reportedly had left more than 20 clubs without a playing field. The stadium had been built to promote sports and host international football matches, but within years of its completion, it was occupied by law-enforcement agencies such as the

Pakistan Rangers The Pakistan Rangers () are a pair of paramilitary federal law enforcement corps' in Pakistan. The two corps are the Punjab Rangers (operating in Punjab province with headquarters in Lahore) and the Sindh Rangers (operating in Sindh province w ...

for keeping an eye on the law and order situation in the area. Apart from being one of the main venues of several national sports events such as the

National Games of Pakistan The National Games of Pakistan is a multi-sport event held in Pakistan. It comprises various disciplines in which sportsmen from the provinces and departments of Pakistan compete against each other. The games are organized by Pakistan Sports Boa ...

, or football events such as the

Pakistan Premier League The Pakistan Premier League (PPL; ) is a Pakistani semi-professional league for men's football clubs. The top tier of the Pakistan football league system, the PPL operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the PFFL B Division. The ...

, PFF League and the PFF National Challenge Cup, the stadium was aimed to became one of the home venues for international matches, first hosting the

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America ...

match against Kyrgyzstan on 29 November 2003. Two years later, the stadium hosted the 2005 SAARC Gold Cup. It also hosted all the matches in the inaugural Karachi Football League and Geo Super Football League in 2007. After years of inactivity due to the ban on

Pakistan Football Federation The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) is the national governing body of association football in Football in Pakistan, Pakistan. It is a member of FIFA, the international governing body of Association football, football, and affiliated to the A ...

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

, and after 11 years since Pakistan ever held an international football event, the stadium was considered as one of the potential venues for the

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will decide the 45 teams that will join hosts Canada men's national soccer team, Canada, Mexico national football team, Mexico, and the United States men's national soccer team, United States at the 2026 FIFA ...

on 17 October 2023, however it was ultimately deemed unfit by not meeting FIFA standards.

History

Football tournaments

2005 SAFF Gold Cup

See also

References