Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium

Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium stands in Rawdat Al Jahhaniya in the municipality of Al Rayyan, about 20 km west of central Doha. It is the home ground of Al-Rayyan Sports Club and is often called Al-Rayyan Stadium. The stadium is named after Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali Al Thani, Emir of Qatar from 1960 to 1972.

An earlier stadium with about 21,000 seats opened on the site in 2003 and was demolished in 2015 to make way for a new World Cup venue. The new stadium was designed by Pattern Design and built between 2017 and 2020, and it opened on 18 December 2020, Qatar's National Day.

The outer shell is a large media facade that can show projections, news and match updates, and all seats sit under the roof's shade. The patterns on the facade draw on Qatari culture, desert landscapes and local plant life. During the 2022 FIFA World Cup the stadium had a capacity of about 45,000 and staged seven matches, including the round of 16 game between Argentina and Australia. It has also hosted the FIFA Club World Cup, the FIFA Arab Cup and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.

After the World Cup the seating was planned to be cut to around 21,000, with surplus seats intended for reuse in other projects. The surrounding precinct includes sports facilities and green spaces for local residents.

The stadium is open on match days, with tickets sold through the event organiser, and there are no regular public tours on record. The Doha Metro Green Line serves the area at Al Riffa station, with shuttles to the stadium on event days.

Which matches has Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium staged?

Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium hosted seven matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, starting with USA against Wales on 21 November and ending with Argentina's 2 to 1 round of 16 win over Australia on 3 December, which set the stadium's attendance record of 45,032. England beat Wales 3 to 0 there, and Croatia and Belgium drew 0 to 0.

The stadium was built by a joint venture of Al-Balagh and Larsen and Toubro, with AECOM as project manager. Before the World Cup it was one of the two venues of the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup and staged four group matches at the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup.

It stayed busy afterwards. At the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, played in January and February 2024, it hosted seven matches, including Australia's 2 to 0 win over India and Jordan's 2 to 0 semi-final win over South Korea in front of 42,850 people. Three group games of the 2025 FIFA Arab Cup followed, among them Syria's 1 to 0 win over Tunisia.