Education City Stadium
استاد المدينة التعليمية (Arabic)
Interior view of the stadium before the 2022 FIFA World Cup Group H match between South Korea and Portugal.
Map
Full nameEducation City Stadium
Location
Coordinates25°18′39″N 51°25′28″E / 25.3108°N 51.4244°E / 25.3108; 51.4244
Public transit Education City (المدينة التعليمية)
OwnerQatar Foundation
Capacity
Record attendance44,667 (Morocco vs Spain, 6 December 2022)
SurfaceGrass
Construction
Opened15 June 2020
Architect
  • Fenwick Iribarren Architects
  • Pattern Design
Project managerASTAD
Structural engineer
Main contractors
Tenants
Qatar national football team (selected matches)

Education City Stadium (Arabic: إِسْتَاد المدينة التعليمية, romanized: ʾIstād al-Madīna at-Taʿlīmiyya) is a football stadium which is located in Al Rayyan, Qatar, and was built as a venue in time for the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar. The stadium is located within several university campuses at the Qatar Foundation's Education City.[2] Following the FIFA World Cup, the stadium will retain 25,000 seats for use by university athletic teams. On 3 September 2020, the stadium hosted its first official match, played in the 2020–21 Qatar Stars League season.[3]

The stadium is located about 7 km north-west of Doha.[4]

Construction

The stadium is located on the outskirts of the capital Doha and has a capacity of 40,000 seats. It has been given the nickname "Diamond in the Desert".[5][6] With 20 percent of its building materials identified as green, the stadium is among the world's most environmentally sustainable stadiums. In May 2019, Education City Stadium received a five-star GSAS rating.[7][8]

The build contractor is JPAC JV, who appointed Pattern Design as the lead design architect, and Buro Happold for the engineering design.[9]

On 15 March 2022, FIFA president Gianni Infantino met with Qatar Minister of Labor, Ali bin Samikh Al Marri in Doha, and discussed the labor reforms taking place in the country.[10] On 16 March 2022 Infantino said in an interview, “I am pleased to see the strong commitment from the Qatari authorities to ensure the reforms are fully implemented across the labor market, leaving a lasting legacy of the FIFA World Cup long after the event, and benefiting migrant workers in the host country in the long term.”[11]

On November 1, 2022, the International Labor Organization (ILO) recognized that Qatar has “undertaken comprehensive labor reforms to improve the conditions of the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers” which have “yielded benefits for workers, employers, and the economy more broadly.” This builds upon their 2021 report that detailed the positive impact of Qatar's new labor legislation and implementation mechanisms. Also, On November 23, 2022, Foreign Policy (an American media house) drafted a report on the latest acknowledgement of the labor reforms that Qatar initiated, as the nation has already been scrutinized for its treatment of migrant workers in the past. Reforms include the introduction of a nondiscriminatory minimum wage, the removal of barriers to change jobs, and the introduction of a worker compensation fund in 2018 that has paid out $350 million so far.[12]

2022 FIFA World Cup

The Education City Stadium was one of eight stadiums built, renovated or reconstructed for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.[13] The construction of the stadium was completed in June 2020, making it the third World Cup stadium to be completed.[8] It officially opened on 15 June 2020.[14]

History

On 30 September 2019, FIFA announced the Education City Stadium as the host of the third place match and final of the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup, with the tournament being held in Qatar.[15] The stadium would also have hosted Liverpool’s first match in the semi-finals, but on 7 December 2019, the official opening of Education City Stadium was postponed until early 2020.[16] Thus, Liverpool's opener, the final, and the third place match were all moved to the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.[17]

The 2020 FIFA Club World Cup was once again held in Qatar. The Education City Stadium was one of the venues.[18] One second round match, one semi-final match, the third place match and the final between Bayern Munich and UANL all took place in the stadium.[19] In 2020 the Education City Stadium hosted the East and West Zone matches of the 2020 AFC Champions League.[18]

The stadium hosted five matches of the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup.[20]

Recent tournament results

2021 FIFA Arab Cup

Date Time Team #1 Result Team #2 Round Attendance
1 December 2021 22:00  Saudi Arabia 0–1  Jordan Group C 4,777
3 December 2021 16:00  Oman 1–2  Qatar Group A 23,254
4 December 2021 22:00  Palestine 1–1  Saudi Arabia Group C 3,075
7 December 2021 22:00  Lebanon 1–0  Sudan Group D 5,991
10 December 2021 18:00  Tunisia 2–1  Oman Quarter-finals 21,329

2022 FIFA World Cup

The Education City Stadium hosted eight matches during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Date Time Team No. 1 Result Team No. 2 Round Attendance
22 November 2022 16:00  Denmark 0–0  Tunisia Group D 42,925
24 November 2022 16:00  Uruguay 0–0  South Korea Group H 41,663
26 November 2022 16:00  Poland 2–0  Saudi Arabia Group C 44,259
28 November 2022 16:00  South Korea 2–3  Ghana Group H 43,983
30 November 2022 18:00  Tunisia 1–0  France Group D 43,627
2 December 2022 18:00  South Korea 2–1  Portugal Group H 44,097
6 December 2022 18:00  Morocco 0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–0 p)  Spain Round of 16 44,667
9 December 2022 18:00  Croatia 1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)  Brazil Quarter-finals 43,893

2023 AFC Asian Cup

On 5 April 2023, the Education City Stadium was chosen as one of eight (later nine) venues for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.[21]

Date Time Team No. 1 Result Team No. 2 Round Attendance
14 January 2024 20:30  Iran 4–1  Palestine Group C 27,691
19 January 2024 14:30  Iraq 2–1  Japan Group D 38,663
23 January 2024 18:00  Iran 2–1  United Arab Emirates Group C 34,259
25 January 2024 18:00  Saudi Arabia 0–0  Thailand Group F 38,773
30 January 2024 19:00  Saudi Arabia 1–1 (a.e.t.) (2–4 p)  South Korea Round of 16 42,389
3 February 2024 14:30  Iran 2–1  Japan Quarter-finals 35,640

References

  1. ^ "Education City Stadium". fifa.com. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  2. ^ "The official completion of Education City Stadium". qatar2022.qa. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  3. ^ "Cazorla dazzles as football arrives at Education City". FIFA. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Education City Stadium". qatar2022.qa. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Education City Stadium set for COVID-19-themed inauguration". thestadiumbusiness.com. 5 July 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  6. ^ "'Diamond in the Desert' will shine for FIFA Club World Cup 2020 Final". iloveqatar.net. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  7. ^ "Education City Stadium …. Jewel of the Desert". gulf-times.com. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  8. ^ a b "Education City stadium will house two Qatar Foundation schools after Qatar 2022 World Cup". thepeninsulaqatar.com. 20 June 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  9. ^ "Education City Stadium Design". Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  10. ^ "FIFA President and Qatar Minister of Labour meet to discuss progress of labour rights". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  11. ^ "FIFA chief Infantino lauds Qatar's labour reforms". ESPN.com. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  12. ^ Ali Al Ansari, Ali Al Ansari (23 November 2022). "Don't ignore labour reforms of qatar". Foreign Policy.
  13. ^ "Qatar 2022: Football World Glone stadiums at a glance". aljazeera.com. 22 October 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  14. ^ "Education City Stadium completed". gulf-times.com. 4 June 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  15. ^ "Education City Stadium to host FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019™ final". FIFA. Archived from the original on 30 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  16. ^ "Qatar 2022 World Cup venue to host Liverpool games at Club World Cup". bbc.com. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  17. ^ "Liverpool's Club World Cup semi-final in Qatar to be moved with venue not ready". theguardian.com. 7 December 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  18. ^ a b "600 days to go: Qatar's FIFA World Cup stadiums are looking incredible". thepeninsulaqatar.com. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  19. ^ "Education City and Ahmad Bin Ali stadiums to host FIFA Club World Cup 2020™". FIFA.com. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  20. ^ "2021 FIFA Arab Cup: Participating teams, fixtures and all you need to know". goal.com. 18 December 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  21. ^ "AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023™ competition dates and venues confirmed". the-afc. Asian Football Confederation. 5 April 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
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