# EGYPT - Stadium and Arena Development News



## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

*Estad Suez New Version*

Picture yourself in a horror scene and you will end up in the alleged 27,000 capacity new Suez Stadium, built in 1990 to replace its neighbouring and humble predecessor. The ground is set amidst monstrous petrochemical plants marking the Suez Canal.

To complete this hardly enviable scenario imagine yourself watching a top flight encounter between a company team and the official army team, both void of an insignificant fan base in front of a rent-a-crowd, made up from 400 ‘volunteering’ junior soldiers.










The Suez Stadium is home to none less than four clubs; Petrojet from the first division, company teams Asmant Suez, representing the cement industries, Gasco, affiliated with a huge gas consortium, and Momkathab Suez, the city team supported by local aficianoado’s, all playing at second level in the same division.

The ground is a spitting image of Cairese Arab Contactors’ Osman Ahmed Osman Stadium, almost down to the very last detail. The only significant difference is the size of the main stand with its distinctive roof, alienated from its uncovered vibrantly colored counterparts.










The stadium was currently undergoing refurbishments with the prospect of staging group matches for the World Championships FIFA U-20 World Cup, hold in Egypt in September and October 2009. 




















With no athletic tracks in sight, the Egyptian Archibald Leitch architectural clones still manage to create abysmal oval bowls with a desert separating the pitch from the open stands, calling for binoculars and telescope lenses to obtain a close view.


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## ReiAyanami (May 14, 2008)

Interesting stadiums. I also like your choice of words that can, in very short, describe the history, background and reasoning of each facility. Keep it up!


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

ReiAyanami said:


> Interesting stadiums. I also like your choice of words that can, in very short, describe the history, background and reasoning of each facility. Keep it up!


I sincerely appreciate your feedback. Much obliged.


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

*Estad Fayoum*

The Cairo-Aswan stretch along the Nile and its periphery accommodates communities that feature grounds as if developed to be each other’s spitting images. The Estad Fayoum, home to Fayoum and Misr al Maqasa is no exception and borders on to neighbouring council houses, giving tenants a spectacular free view. 












The name Fayoum originates from the hieroglyphic word Bayoum, meaning ‘sea’, a reference to the large inland Lake Qaroun. Fayoum is renowned for its numerous water wheels, introduced by the Ptomelies in de 3rd century BC.












With no towering flood lights in sight to mark its territory and its relatively low tiers Estad Fayoum in the gateway to the Siwa oasis requires perseverance to discover. The ground is concealed by a huge stone wall alongside a dual carriage way and a large gate serves as the main entrance. 













The main stand, its roof equipped with a series of tiny light sources, is not a particular exciting affair nor are the other concrete areas of the ground, all painted in sonorous white, given the ground an almost virgin feel.


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

*Estad Beni Suef*

The endless stretch along the Nile between Cairo and Aswan is littered with agricultural stopping places, serving as epicentres of rural trade. The borders of the Nile accommodate communities of considerable size such as Beni Suef, Assyut, Sohaq, Naq Hammadi, Luxor and Aswan, also home to football teams such as Telefonad Beni Suef, Beni Suef, Petrol Assyut, Asmant Assyut, Nil Sohaq and Aluminium Naq Hammadi, all playing in unfashionable style in unfashionable stadiums. 

From Fayoum we travel down the Nile to Beni Suef. The Estad Beni Suef is home to both town team Beni Suef and company team Telefonad Beni Suef who just missed out on promotion twice to the Momtaz in epic play-off encounters in the aftermath of the 2005/06 and 2006/07 seasons. 


The Estad Beni Suef capacity is an estimated 14,000, already making for a hostile reception and atmosphere only half the capacity. 
















































This concrete ground, brightened up with mauve, golden and white licks of paint, resides agonisingly close to the river, almost touching it with its oval shape and covered main stand, the terraces behind the goals alienated from the pitch. 






















Behind one of those goals we see a most peculiar and quaint concrete structure. If the Olympic Games ever hit Egypt it will eagerly anticipate the arrival of the Olympic flame. It provides for the most intriguing restricted view.


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

*Estad Naq Hammadi*

The town of Nag Hammadi was established by Mahmoud Pasha Hammadi, who was a member of the Hammadi family in nearby Sohag. Mahmoud Pasha Hammadi was a major landholder in Sohag, and known for his strong opposition to the British occupation.

Mahmoud Pasha Hammadi created Nag Hammadi for the indigenous people from Sohag who were forced to abandon their homeland by the British occupation. In recognition of this, the new town was given the name "Hammadi". It has a population of about 30,000, the majority being peasants. Sugar and aluminium are produced in Nag Hammâdi.

The local team are Aluminium Naq Hammadi, once playing at top flight level in Egypt, attracting a mere two hundred for regular home games and packing to the rafters for the visits of Al Ahly and Zamalek. 

The 16,000 capacity stadium is located in a self-supporting compound, accommodating thousands of workers, hosting an international school, a hospital, a library and a swimming arena of olympic size. 

Naq Hammadi Wednesday. Naq Hammadi United. Steel City. Yorkshire in Egypt.


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

*Estad Qena*

Qena on the Nile, south of Naq Hammadi and north of Luxor, features four floodlights with a tannoy system , daily summoning locals for their traditional prayers:












One enters to ground by an open end behind one of the goals, revealing trees neighbouring the plain main stand. 












The grassy bank that once adorned St James' Park in Exeter has been brought to life by bushes in front of the East Stand and the South Stand.






















To the right of the South stand we find the elevated and hooligan proof away end, mounted on concrete:


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## likasz (Sep 4, 2008)

do you have some indoor arenas?


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

*Estad Quos*

^^ No

Quos is an an agricultural stopping place on the Nile stretch between Qena and Luxor. Their humble locals are infamously tagged ‘ghattafeen ittawoi’, a phonetic Arabic notation for ‘hat thieves’. 

Local Quos rascals would habitually snatch the hats from people on a train, departing from the local station, by jumping the compartments. It resulted in a flourishing local trade, now vanished with the so-called ‘tarboosh’ no longer being fashionable. Tarboosh is derived from the Persian ‘sar poosh’, meaning ‘covered head’. 










Quos’ partisan ground is off-limits for people suffering from claustrophobia, such are the cramped conditions. Speaking of ‘hatters’, Luton Town’s Kenilworth Road or the sadly demised Baseball Ground of Derby County are wide open acres of space compared to the home of the ‘hat thieves’. 











The ground’s main entry is a hole in the wall on the village main street. Once inside one has to by-pass a corner flag and follow the touchline behind one of the goals to get access to the main stand. 










Opposite the main stand is another brick wall running the entire length of the pitch, leaving agonizingly sparse space for two benches that are practically situated on the touchline itself. 

Two open holes serve as tv gantries, with camera men standing outside the ground on orange crates on the street’s sidewalk.


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## likasz (Sep 4, 2008)

You live in Egypt and you don't know that

you have the biggest indoor arena in Africa called The Covered Hall?


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

likasz said:


> do you have some indoor arenas?


No.



likasz said:


> You live in Egypt and you don't know that
> 
> you have the biggest indoor arena in Africa called The Covered Hall?


Don't beat around the bush and just get to your point.


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

*Estad Aswan*

Stadium impressions:


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

*Estad Aluminium*

We continue our pharaonic voyage of discovery by moving on to the Red Sea. Unlike Greater Cairo, the Delta, the Canal Stretch and cities bordering the Nile, The Red Sea Governorate has until last season never produced clubs to feed the Momtaz, the equivalent to the Premier League.

The Red Sea Governorate accommodates clubs from Hurghada, a household name holiday resort, from nearby El Gouna, a self-contained de luxe town, beautifully set amidst artificial lagoons and from Safaga, a main marine port, also serving as a tourist area and ferry focus point for the annual pilgrimages to Mecca.

With the departure of the aluminium and sulphuric acids producing plants in Safaga the company team Aluminium Safaga were left with no assets, a bumpy pitch, its surface conjuring up visions of a mixture of acne and a bad complexion. 

The team were a formidable home site with an envious home record but would always almost by default falter away from Safaga. Lack of financial resources forced the club from withdrawing from the league and second division before the start of the 2008/09 season. It's sad to see their partisan support, although not turning up in numbers, being deprived from their home team.

Aluminium Safaga are eponymous for marginal football in marginal conditions, like so many of their Egyptian counterparts dwelling in the second and third division, be it on the Red Sea, in Toshka near the Sudanese border or in insignificant communities along the Nile. 

Sometimes pictures tell more than a thousand words, regardless of the local language spoken. They may seem debilitating or even pathetic. It’s perspective though is that ‘big teams’ from the second division, Petrol Assyut being one of them and recently having been promoted to the Momtaz as divisional champions, found their Waterloo here and were in for a humiliating 300 miles trip back home. 


*Nearby flats, offering tenants a free view:*












*Parking area; away support section:*











*Aluminium Safaga's groundsman, toilet cleaner, tea maker and problably also chairman:*











* The infamous pitch:*






















*
The uncovered main stand with segregation for home and away support:*











*Opposite main stand; the dugouts:*













*The uncovered Town End, where the locals would gather, seated on an empty gas tank, making for a hostile atmosphere:*






















*The last team picture, going down the history books:*


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

*Grand Club*










We leave sadly demised Aluminium from the port of Safaga for Hurghada (Al Ghardaqah, الغردقة), only a half hour drive for those who manage to survive the Egyptian code of the road.


Hurghada dates back to the early 20th century, and has spiraled from insignificant fisherman’s village to the buzzy and leading seashore resort on the Red Sea it now is, attracting all-inclusive guests, notably Italians, Russians, Czechs, English and Germans. Don't mention the war.











Hurghada is home to Grand Club, a company team affiliated to Grand Hotel, playing their home games at a humble ground, almost void of facilities. The massive Steigenberger Al Dau Beach Hotel can be clearly seen from a miniscule elevated shed that serves as the only covered part of the ground.










The ground is located on the main road from Safaga leading to Hurghada's new police station in the vicinity of the airport. Anorak's haven.












Panorama of the main stand with recently added uncovered extensions:













The infamous away end at Grand Club:


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## the warrior (Jun 12, 2010)

*DAMANHOUR - Damanhour International Stadium (60,000)*

*بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم*​ 










Damanhour International Stadium(DIS)
MULTI-USE STADIUM
CAPACITY .... 60,000 SPECTATORS
END OF CONSTRUCION WORK 2011
SURFACE....GRASS
TENANTS....ALAAB DAMANHOUR


[


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## playolive (Mar 26, 2010)

Where from (country) ? please...


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## the warrior (Jun 12, 2010)

EGYPT


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

*El Gouna FC*

Red Sea coastal’s El Gouna FC’s ground has undergone a dramatic transformation; from a humble field in 2004, void of basic facilities, to a 12,000 capacity all-seater in 2009, following promotion to the Momtaz.
An amazing and unprecedented metamorphosis in chronological order; from uncovered, shallow and spartan stands running only three-quarters the length of the pitch and two undeveloped ends, to a fully enclosed modern stadium.










I thought I'd add a Then & Now version, capturing the magnitude of El Gouna FC's ground transition:

*Main Stand Then*









*Main Stand Now*









*Airport End Then*









*Airport End Now*










*Hurghada End Then*









*Hurghada End Now*









*Bustan End Then*









*Bustan End Now*


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## rafamlopes (Dec 31, 2008)

It looks like latin american old stadiums.
No roof and concrete exterior facade.
No creativity.

I don't like it.


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## Island Sloth (Jun 13, 2006)

an intriguing presentation and most curious commentary. we be informed, amused, and grateful. carry on.


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## the warrior (Jun 12, 2010)

thank u for your aimed criticism 
but on the the other hand the stadium consistent with the surrounding environment ..especially if we know that the climate in egypt - moderate-throughout the year ..so the stadium doesn't need a roof



rafamlopes said:


> It looks like latin american old stadiums.
> No roof and concrete exterior facade.
> No creativity.
> 
> I don't like it.


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## Evil78 (Mar 16, 2009)

the warrior said:


> thank u for your aimed criticism
> but on the the other hand the stadium consistent with the surrounding environment ..especially if we know that the climate in egypt - moderate-throughout the year ..so the stadium doesn't need a roof


Still, a sad excuse for a 21st century stadium.hno: Looks like the architects only focused on getting somehow 60.000 people together in one concrete structure.


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

Island Sloth said:


> an intriguing presentation and most curious commentary. we be informed, amused, and grateful. carry on.



Thank you for your encouraging comment; I aim to document with a satirical and perspective touch rather than being dictated by blind nationalism and myopic jingoism, sadly enough SSC’s blueprint.

Some pathetically biased members on here even consume any criticism aimed towards their favourite ground as a scathing personal attack. How pathetic really

Quite frankly, El Gouna’s inclusion concludes the series. Here’s bird’s eye views, taken from the tv gantry during a recent sell-out clash against powerhouse Al Ahly.





























The grounds of Luxor, Assyut, Minia or Mahalla and Zagazig for that matter show striking resemblances with what has already been featuring here in this thread. May I'll put them up in due time.

Egypt’s latest addition to it’s unimaginative ground landscape is El Entag El Harb’s (Military Production) uncovered carbon-copy bowl in Cairo.

http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictures/middle_east/egypt/cairo_production.shtml

The closest one would get to a contemporary design, breathing football, would be the proposed:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1182155


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## rafamlopes (Dec 31, 2008)

Sorry if I was rude. But the roof also protects the spectadors from the sun.

Does it really need a track?!

It looks like all stadiums that we used to build in Brazil during de 50´s and 60´s.


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## the warrior (Jun 12, 2010)

You don't have to apologize..but the city of damanhour is in need to great stadium with (a track )in order to prepare champions olymbeyen ..

But the roof also protects the spectadors from the sun.
You should know that most of matches held in egypt(pm)in the evening


rafamlopes said:


> Sorry if I was rude. But the roof also protects the spectadors from the sun.
> 
> Does it really need a track?!
> 
> It looks like all stadiums that we used to build in Brazil during de 50´s and 60´s.


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## Tedj (Apr 26, 2010)

Cairo Stadium, Moubarak Stadium, Max Stadium are great, the better for me is Borg El Arab, someone has a big picture of it ? :banana:


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

Tedj said:


> Cairo Stadium, Moubarak Stadium, Max Stadium are great, the better for me is Borg El Arab, someone has a big picture of it ?


Please consume the entire thread and you'll eventually hit Borg El Arab.


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## Tedj (Apr 26, 2010)

OnceBittenTwiceShy said:


> Please consume the entire thread and you'll eventually hit Borg El Arab.


I did, but there's no BIG pictures of this Arena


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

Tedj said:


> I did, but there's no BIG pictures of this Arena


Apparently you are aiming at high-resolution images.


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## Tedj (Apr 26, 2010)

OnceBittenTwiceShy said:


> Apparently you are aiming at high-resolution images.


Ya :lol:


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

Obviously no updates until further notice.


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## mortisbucara (Jan 27, 2007)




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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

Edit


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

Alexandria Stadium’s concrete benches, having served as seats from its inception, have been equipped with proper blue individual seats all around in 2009, giving the all-seater stadium a more ‘contemporary’ look.

*Before*










*After*











*Before*










*After*










*Before*










*After*


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## OnceBittenTwiceShy (Mar 14, 2010)

pbs


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## Jim856796 (Jun 1, 2006)

*First Egyptian Stadium to Have a Roof*

Egypt may have some partially-covered venues, but the country has not had a stadium with its roof all over its stands. The new stadium for El Minya SC is being built at the north of the city of Minya.

* A one-tier, 20,000 capacity stadium.
* Its roof is raised on both ends, because of giant screens under it.
* A vast majority of fans will enter the venue through four ramps on its east side.
* Its construction, which will cost 300 million Egyptian pounds at the most, will finish in the Fall of 2017.

Source: StadiumDB.com.


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## Gadiri (Oct 30, 2009)

*Cairo Covered Hall
20.000 seats *


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## Icewave (Dec 28, 2012)

*Official song for 2017 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup*






Link: https://youtu.be/n4KLJjO2u7M


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## fidalgo (Mar 10, 2007)

Proposal for Al-Ahly - 60'000




































http://stadiumdb.com/news/2017/11/new_design_al_ahly_spreading_wings_in_cairo


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## adeaide (Sep 16, 2008)

*Future renovation plan of Cairo International Stadium*











Now


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## adeaide (Sep 16, 2008)

*Cairo International Stadium*


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