The World’s First Underground Stadium

By: Daryl | September 23rd, 2008

Seems to me that the Middle East is the future of football. Man City’s new Abu Dhabi based owners now making some very sensible noises – less about buying C-Ron and more about faith in Mark Hughes and long term investment in the youth academy – which is good news for everyone concerned (including Man City if you ask me).

And over in Doha, Qatar this incredible new stadium is being built for the Al-Ahli team to play in (not to be confused with the Egyptian Al-Ahli). Designed by MZ & Partners, it’s called “The Wall”, and will apparently be the world’s first underground stadium: open-air but air-conditioned. Welcome to the future kids.

I don’t know much about architecture, but I have a friend who does and they tell me that form should follow function. Because it gets damn hot in Doha, stadiums need to be built cool. And where’s cooler than underground? The only aboveground feature is the upper part of the main stand, which is why the stadium has already been nicknamed “The Laptop”.

Here’s what the stadium will look like from above ground:

From overhead:

And, crucially, from inside:

Actually that looks like it’s from inside a corporate box. If you ever manage to actually see the inside of a corporate box in Qatar for realsies then congratulations: you are extremely wealthy.

Apparently the stadium will open in 2010 and seat just 11,000, which makes Qatar’s possible 2018 World Cup bid a bit of a longshot (unless it’s possible to expand, which I’ll bet it is).

But I’m still oddly excited by this, if only because I’m completely sick of seeing English Premier League stadiums that all look more or less identical. Same design, different colour paint. If Middle Eastern money is the future of the Premier League, then maybe we’ll eventually see some of this innovative design come to England.

Want to build your own? Here are the plans: (via SkyscraperCity Forums)

[via Times Online]

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Category: World Football

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wis

nice ide im actully from the middle east but i live in austrlia i barek for the ahli and i think wat they done must be done in the premier league
Dave

PGE Park in Portland, Oregon is also underground; or at least below the street level:

http://www.ballparkreviews.com...
Guest

definitely cool, very functional, unless there is a massive flood and no cover..oops... Is the opening retractable, or close able? Base Jumping? chi money is right, Blackysky, is from Canada.
Chi Money

actually, this works in every way. I am sure they have figured out a way to grow the grass, or use artificial. They DO have the population to fill this, they just need to actually get peeps to the games. The Form is nice, you cannot say it does not work, even if you don't like it. Function is achieved, since it looks like it will be a FUNCTIONing stadium. And Blackysky, your English is f*cking horrible. Oh, I see you're from Canada
game and gadget tutorial

great post! very interesting! it's amazing and beautiful stadium.
blackysky

they got too much money... it is a bubble that will explode sooner or later... wow they always bring new thing everyday
John

Great reviews! I'd love to see this over in the UK!!! WOW!

Looks class, they need a roof to come over on it for the UK and all this damn rain! :D
divorce

this looks really intersting, not sure if it would work though
David

the architects aren't too smart! I mean really, there's seats that are partially behind the 'wall' stand (fourth picture)! They won't get to see a heck of a lot, lol!
David

Yeah, the architects suck! I mean really, go to skyscrapercity ... search for the thread about this building and see the pics there. There's seats that are partially behind the 'wall' stand! They won't get to see a hell of a lot, lol!
alex

hey, styxxman, that gas price is for the centuries your country enslaved millions, even in the middle east.
kind of a payback time dude!
sorry...
FMLive

Wow this is going to be incredible
styxxman

So this is why I'm paying such a huge sum for a gallon of gas. I'm starting to get a bit pissed when these countries start flaunting their wealth as they ream me.
Bunny got blog

This is amazing.What a great idea!
Chris

the grass will not grow. It would have to be an artificial pitch, there's not enough light & fresh air. When you consider the problems the Millennium stadium in cariff had growing turf, this is far more enclosed.
And, as an architect, I don't think either the form or the function work.
V

Nice idea, but what about the suicide bombers the terrorists the soccer fights in mexico it happens al the time(only the fights) thats why its almost imposible to get into the field... that fucking stadium is too fuking small there is no place to put the big group of fans... it is a good idea just make it bigger and put fences. . . and barbwire (just in case)
argento

Actually, it is not the first one. This is the estadio Unico de La Plata, y La Plata, Argentina:

http://muyboca.com.ar/files/20...

More images:

http://images.google.com.ar/im...
DM

If the main stand closed as a roof, with the patrons buckled into their seat like on a rollercoaster, then you might have something.
CSD

Sweet! Now when everyone nukes each other, we'll be able to still have football.
mele419

cool except for the lack of capacity. Looks like there's only a few seats on each side besides the "Laptop"
Luisao

Will there be a tittie bar in the new stadium?
Tamim

duh, these people need to find a job urgently.....the problem is that they don't have enough population to fill half of these stadiums nor powerful and famous teams to play in (no matter what they do in buying mercenaries with their money)
Lissette Evil Blue

11,000 its that a tennis court, please. Spect Mansheikcity to come with some crazy ass stadium soon. Arabs are crazy about architecture. Have u seing the Abu Dhabi coast. they build the *WORLD* and some Gigantic palm trees.
Ak

That is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Although, I hope they find a better architect: by the looks of the inside picture (and the schematic one) some people on the far end of the goal-line stands are gunna be pretty pissed.