Cairo International Stadium

Cairo Stadium

Location	Nasr City, Cairo
Capacity	75,000 (all seated)
Surface	Grass
Opened	1956
Tenants
Al-Ahly El Zamalek Egypt national football team

Cairo International Stadium (Arabic: ستاد القاهرة الدولي) or "Stad El-Qahira El-Dawly", is an Olympic-standard, multi-use stadium with an all-seated capacity of 75,000. It is the Arab World's second largest (after Borg El Arab Stadium with an all-seated capacity of 86,000). It is the foremost Olympic-standard facility befitting the role of Cairo, Egypt as the center of events in the region. It is also the 69th largest stadium in the world. Located in Nasr City; a suburb north east of Cairo, it was completed in 1960, and was inaugurated by President Gamal Abdel Nasser on 23 July that year, the eighth anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.

In 2005 in preparation for the 2006 African Cup of Nations it underwent a major renovation, and was brought up to 21st century world standard along with all its multi-game Olympic facilities.

The Stadium is located about 10 km west of Cairo International Airport and about 30 km (30 min) from downtown Cairo.

Cairo Stadium is known for its tremendous atmosphere and its very large capacity. This was never more evident than during the 2006 African cup of Nations, which were held in Egypt. When Egypt had their matches in Cairo Stadium, the stadium seemed to nearly erupt. Before seats were added to all sections in 2005, the stadium was notorious for holding more people than it was intended to. Cairo International Stadium has hosted over 120,000 fans for a match between El-Zamalek (football team) football club and Al-Ahly football club[1]. Also known as the Cairo Derby. Without seats, fans were able to squeeze together and sit in aisles. This number was actually achieved and realized a few years back in 1986 African Cup of Nations Final match which was held in Egypt and Egypt won against Cameroon.

Cairo Stadium is a strong symbol of Egyptian football. Nearly all of the most important Egyptian matches are held there. It carries an extremely rich history which includes many memorable football moments that range from Hossam Hassan's famous header to secure Egypt's attendance in Italia 90 World Cup, numerous African Cup of Nations tournaments which included the latest 2006 trophy, and the famous derby matches between Ahly and Zamalek.

It has also served as the main stadium of the 1991 All-Africa Games.

On May 1, 2011, the cast of Two Faces Of Love will perform for an udience of 78,276 people, becoming the first latin artist to reach this stage in a world tour. Also, this will be the first time that the Stadium is used for a concert ever. The tickets seold out fastly just 1 day after their release.

Trivia

• Hosts matches between Cairo giants Al-Ahly and Zamalek SC.
• Hosts matches for the Egypt national football team.
• In the 1986 Africa Cup of Nations it was packed with 120,000 people to see their team winning the tournament against Cameroon.
• Third largest stadium in Africa after Soccer City in South Africa 1st and Borg El Arab Stadium in Egypt 2nd and it is acknowledged by Fifa.
• Hosted many matches in the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations and the final which Egypt won against Ivory Coast 4-2 in penalties shootouts after a 0-0 draw Overtime which was packed with 80,000 attendance.
• Will be one of the stadiums for Egyptian bid to host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
• It is the most visited stadium in Egypt having all of the important matches for the Egypt national football team.
• It was updated to host the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations to meet the caf standard stadiums making it all-seated which decreased the capacity from 85,000 to 75,000 and making blue zigzag highlights on the seats, later on the Olympic track was changed from blue to orange it was first seen on 14 November when Egypt faced Algeria in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) which Egypt won 2-0.
• It was one of the stadiums along with Borg El Arab Stadium and 5 other future made stadium in the Egyptian fail bid to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

See also

• Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex

External links

• Photos at worldstadiums.com
• Photos at fussballtempel.net

[1]http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/football/features/newsid_2299000/2299305.stm

• www.cairo-stadium.com Website for Cairo Stadium