Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, sometimes also called al-Rayyan Stadium or ar-Rayyan Stadium, is the venue for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Accompanying other venues such as Education City Stadium and Khalifa International Stadium, it is the final's third stadium, which is located in the city of al-Rayyan (also ar-Rayyan).

Six of the eight stadiums that will serve as the venues were built especially for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, but the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium is not one of them.

It has existed since 2003, but the arena was completely demolished and renovated in the course of the final round. In the course of this, seats were expanded from around 20,000 to 40,000.

Six matches from the group stage and one round of 16 from Qatar 2022 will take place at this stadium.

Al-Rayyan Stadium facts and figures.

🏟️ Capacity : 40,000 seats.
🎉 Inauguration : 2003 (renewals from 2014-2020).
👷🏽 Project planner : AECOM.
World Cup 2022 matches at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium.

All information about the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium.

The Ahmed bin Ali Stadium (al-Rayyan Stadium) is located in the city of the same name al-Rayyan (also ar-Rayyan), which is the largest city in Qatar with around 600,000 inhabitants. From 2003 to 2014, the Qatar football team Al Rayyan Sports Club played their matches in what was then the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, before it underwent extensive renovation and modernisation. In the course of the World Cup being awarded to Qatar from 2014 to 2020, the al-Rayyan Stadium was renamed.

The stadium was fitted with 40,000 modular seats for the football World Cup, after which the venue will be rebuilt to its original size with around 20,000 seats. Seats that are no longer needed will be donated to developing countries for football projects after the final round.

The ultra-modern and luxurious al-Rayyan Stadium is characterized by a wavy, luminous façade. The patterns are meant to characterize the various aspects of the country, namely the importance of family, the beauty of the desert, the native flora and fauna, and Qatar's domestic and international trade. The surrounding buildings in the form of sand dunes are meant to reflect the surrounding nature.

Advanced cooling technologies at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium also ensure that fans and players stay comfortable in the stadium. The Qatar World Cup won't be held until winter due to high summer temperatures, but there will still be temperatures of over 30 degrees in the desert state.

Unworthy working conditions in the construction of stadiums?

The lavish and imposing World Cup 2022 stadiums in Qatar unfortunately have their drawbacks as well. Nearly all stadiums are said to have had unworthy working conditions for new construction or modernization work. Unfortunately, al-Rayyan Stadium is one of them.

Around two million guest workers, mainly from Nepal, Bangladesh and India, worked in Qatar, most of them also on World Cup construction sites. According to numerous reports, they often received starvation wages and had to keep working even in temperatures of around 50 degrees.

Even when public life in the Gulf state was largely closed due to the corona pandemic, the construction of the 2022 World Cup stadiums continued unaffected. At least one guest worker at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium was infected with COVID-19 at the construction site, and corona cases were also reported at other World Cup 2022 stadiums in Qatar.

Information on the venue of the World Cup 2022 al-Rayyan.

Al-Rayyan (ar-Rayyan) is located in western Qatar and has a population of around 600,000. The city functions as a suburb of the Doha metropolis and is only a few kilometers from the Qatari capital. Doha's city limits are not always clearly visible.

The municipality of al-Rayyan (also ar-Rayyan) was founded in 1972 by the Ministry of Municipal and Urban Planning as an independent municipal administration. Since then, the population density has been increasing rapidly from year to year and the infrastructure has also been continuously expanding. The Doha metro was also connected to al-Rayyan over the course of the 2022 World Cup.
Things to do in al-Rayyan

Not only the three stadiums (Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Education City Stadium, Khalifa International Stadium) in Al-Rayyan are worth a visit. In the City of Education (Education City), which is a kind of university campus, there are numerous universities, schools and research institutions (also foreign). An example of this is the Qatar Science and Technology Park or the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.

With the so-called Villaggio Mall there is also a large shopping center in al-Rayyan. The headquarters of the Qatar Equestrian Federation should be very interesting for horse fans, who can regularly marvel at the competitions and horse shows there. Due to the proximity to ar-Rayyan, a detour to the Qatari capital, Doha, is also a good idea.

Source images: FIFA.