Featured image credit: Populous
Work on Grand Stade Hassan II, a new 115,000-capacity stadium in the Moroccan city of Casablanca, could be completed by 2027, three years before it serves as a host venue for the FIFA World Cup.
The venue will become the largest football stadium in the world once completed. The first official images of the stadium, which has been designed by Oualalou + Choi and Populous, emerged in August.
Previous reports in the Moroccan media have suggested the stadium will be delivered in 2028, but Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), has claimed it will be ready a year earlier.
Lekjaa revealed the 2027 delivery date yesterday (Wednesday) during a meeting at the headquarters of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM).
Grand Stade Hassan II will serve as the focal point of Morocco’s staging of the 2030 World Cup, which the country will co-host alongside Spain and Portugal. Celebratory matches will also be held in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay to mark 100 years since Uruguay hosted the inaugural World Cup in 2030.
The design of the stadium draws inspiration from the traditional Moroccan social gathering known as a moussem, with its structure set under a tented roof. Each end of the stadium bowl will feature three steep and compact tiers that can seat 29,500 fans, while along each of the main stands there will be five levels of hospitality able to accommodate 12,000 people.
Spain, Morocco and Portugal were confirmed as the co-hosts of the 2030 World Cup last month. Grande Stade Hassan II is one of six proposed stadiums in Morocco, and the only new venue on the country’s list.
Other proposed venues are Grand Stade d’Agadir (Agadir, 46,000 capacity), Stade de Fès (Fez, 55,800 capacity), Grand Stade de Marrakech (Marrakech, 45,860 capacity), Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah (Rabat, 68,700 capacity) and Grand Stade de Tangier (Tangier, 75,600 capacity).
Work on the stadiums in Rabat and Tangier is set to be carried out in the coming months. After Morocco has hosted the Africa Cup of Nations in December and January, the venues in Marrakech, Fez and Agadir will be upgraded.
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