Ahmad bin Ali Stadium – stadium description

The stadium was built on the site of the former Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, a municipiality 20 kilometres west of Doha. Due to its surroundings, the venue is sometimes referred to as the "gateway to the desert". Al-Rayyan Stadium is located next to the largest shopping centre in the country. It is well connected with the capital thanks to the nearby Al Riffa underground station.

According to the original plans from 2010, the facility in Al Rayyan was to be kept for the 2022 World Cup. It was then only a 7-year-old stadium, considered one of the best in the country. It was planned to add about 20,000 temporary seats and thoroughly revamp its existing infrastructure.

However, in 2014, a decision was made that it would be more advantageous to demolish the facility and build a new one from scratch. 90% of Ahmad bin Ali Stadium has been used in other venues (floodlights, seats, transformers) and in the construction of the current World Cup arena (recycled rubble), which is located on the same site. Some elements were also donated for arts projects.

The demolition of the old stands started on September 30th, 2014. The operation lasted six months. Crushed concrete became the building material for the new stadium. Even the soil excavated for the removal of the foundations was either sold for reuse or saved for landscaping after the construction of the new facility

The design of the new stadium was presented in April 2015. Originally, the Al-Rayyan Stadium was scheduled to be commissioned in March 2019. Later, however, the completion date was postponed several times. Finally, the investment was completed at the end of 2020, and on December 18th, the first match was played on Qatar's National Day.

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