Images | Designs for world’s largest soccer stadium revealed
22 August 2024
Sports venue architecture specialist Populous and Paris-based Oualalou + Choi have revealed new images of the Stade Hassan II in Casablanca, Morocco.
With a capacity of 115,000, the venue would become the world’s largest football (soccer) stadium once constructed.
The stadium has been designed with compact, three-step tiers at either end to ensure a vibrant atmosphere. Each ‘end’ will be able to hold 29,500 spectators.
The stadium will be covered by a roof made from an aluminium lattice and supporting the geometry of the roof and the bowl is a ring of 32 stairways, creating huge gateways that feature gardens positioned on raised platforms, each 28 metres from the ground.
There will also be five levels of hospitality along each of the main stands at the side of the pitch to welcome up to 12,000 VIP, hospitality and box users, in addition to the Royal Box.
The stadium has been designed to be capable of hosting the final of the FIFA World Cup 2030, which Morocco is hosting alongside Spain and Portugal.
Preparation for groundworks to start is underway on a 100-hectare site in the town of El Mansouria, in the province of Benslimane, 38 km north of Casablanca, after public financing was approved in October 2023.
Engineering firms Maffeis Engineering, ME Engineering, and Rider Levett Bucknall complete the design team.
Christopher Lee, managing director at Populous for the EMEA region, said, “We are very proud to work alongside our partners Oualalou + Choi on this incredible project. The Grand Stade Hassan II will be a truly iconic, landmark venue for Morocco and for football itself, that will become one of the great stadia of the world.
Tarik Oualalou, design principal and founding partner at Oualalou + Choi and lead architect for the project, added, “The Grand Stade Hassan II is deeply rooted in Moroccan culture, with its traditions and contemporary expressions. It is rooted in ancient and primordial figures: the Moussem, the tent, and the garden, as well as the topography and landscapes of Morocco.
“It’s a generous space, open to the world and respectful to the Nature it protects. The Grand Stade Hassan II de Casablanca is the embodiment of the great tradition of Moroccan hospitality.”