If you think of some of the biggest football grounds in the world, you will no doubt think of stadiums in London, Spain or even Mexico. You are unlikely to immediately consider Morocco as being somewhere you could expect to find a venue with an overwhelmingly large capacity, and yet that is exactly what the Hassan II Stadium is planned to be.
When it was confirmed that Morocco would be one of the host nations for the 2030 World Cup, the stadium-build got the go-ahead. What, exactly, can we expect from the new venue when it opens?
Years in the Making
Head to Morocco for a match of one of the club’s two biggest teams, Raja CA and Wydad AC, and you will find yourself heading to the Mohammed V Stadium in the heart of Casablanca. That won’t be the case for all that much longer, however, with the 67,000 capacity ground set to be demolished in order to make way for the building of the Hassan II Stadium. When Morocco made a big to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, a new stadium was mooted along with four other ground, only for the bid to be won by South Africa instead.
Morocco 🇲🇦 has kicked off the construction of the world’s largest stadium, Stade Hassan II in Benslimane, near Casablanca that will host the FIFA World Cup final in 2030.
It will host over 118,00 spectators with completion expected by 2028. pic.twitter.com/tRJaWu9kze
— Eric Njiru ⚽️ (@EricNjiiru) January 20, 2025
Fast forward a few years and another discussion around a new stadium took place when Morocco were hoping to win the right to host the World Cup in 2026. Instead, that was awarded to the bid put in by the United States of America, Canada and Mexico. In other words, the new stadium for Morocco has been a long time coming, so when the country was finally confirmed as being the host nation for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup in 2030, along with Spain and Portugal, the stadium was finally given the go-ahead.
The Initial Project
There have been rumours surrounding the building of a new stadium in Morocco for years, with such discussions ramping up in the wake of damage being caused to the Stade Mohammed V after numerous games of its two tenants. It was first mentioned when Morocco’s bid for the 2010 World Cup was made, then again when it chased the 2026 World Cup, with the desire to build an awe-inspiring new football ground in Casablanca being thrust into the centre stage of the sport in the June of 2023 during a government meeting.
@science_t3ch the grand stade Casablanca HASSAN II 🇲🇦 #fyp #fypシ゚viral #foryou ♬ sonido original – Trust Yourself
It was in October of that year that the government along with the Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion signed an agreement that committed to the spending of around five billion dirhams on the construction of the stadium between 2025 and 2028. At the same time, money was also given over to the renovation of other football grounds that would be used to host the 2025 AFCON tournament and then the 2030 World Cup, once the stadiums have been brought up to the standards required by FIFA and the Confederation of African Football.
Largest Stadium in the World
Variously known as either the Grand Stade de Casablanca or the Hassan II Stadium, with the latter name being in honour of the king of Morocco between 1961 and 1999, the new venue will be the largest football ground in the world. The venue is intended to have enough room for 115,000 people, with the design being inspired by the notion of ‘moussem’, which is a social gathering in the country. The structure will be under a large roof designed to look like a tent, which will look like a marquee from a distance away.
In actual fact, the stadium’s roof will be aluminium done in a lattice style, with a ring of 32 stairways put in place in order to support the geometry of both the roof and the bowl. There will be gateways that will feature lush gardens on raised platforms that are 28 metres from the ground. It is designed by the architects Oualalou + Choi as well as Populous, with the engineering firms Maffeis Engineering, ME Engineering. Rider Levett Bucknall and SEPSI all being involved in making it the most spectacular football venue in the world.
Is a New Stadium Really Necessary?
Given the fact that Morocco already has a decent-sized stadium in the form of the Stade Mohammed V, it isn’t exactly outrageous to ponder whether or not a new football ground is actually needed for the region. Whilst football is popular in the country, it isn’t as if 115,000 people are going to be attending the domestic matches of the country’s two biggest teams that will be occupying it in the wake of the World Cup, after all. That ground is not only old now but also is struggling to remain fit for purpose and a safe location for matches to be played in.
Stade Hassan II — Casablanca
Designed by PopulousOnce completed (2028) it will become the world’s largest football stadium, with a capacity of 115,000.
#architecture #architect #stadium
— Bespoke Careers (@bespokecareers.bsky.social) November 21, 2024 at 3:38 PM
It was first built in the 1950s and underwent a renovation 30 years later. With little done to modernise it in the years since, there is certainly a feeling that Casablanca and Morocco as a whole will need a new venue for the matches it will host during the 2030 World Cup. Aside from anything else, the Stade Mohammed V features a running track around the pitch, meaning that it is far from an ideal location for football matches. FIFA is, of course, an organisation that is a stickler when it comes to the stadiums that host matches under its jurisdiction.