Al-Merrikh Stadium, also known as the Red Castle, is a multi-use

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

Omdurman Omdurman () is a major city in Sudan. It is the second most populous city in the country, located in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the capital city of Khartoum. The city acts ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, used mostly for football matches and also sometimes for athletics. Established in 1962. The stadium is used mostly for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

games and is considered the home stadium of both

Al-Merrikh SC Al-Merrikh Sporting Club () is a Sudanese professional football club based in the city of Omdurman. Their home stadium is Al-Merrikh Stadium, which is locally known as The Red Castle. Founded in 1908, Al-Merrikh is one of the oldest football cl ...

and the Sudan national team. Currently, the stadium has a capacity of 43,000. In the 2018 CAF Champions League season, Al-Merrikh drew an average home attendance of 37,250. They usually draw much lower crowds for their domestic league games.

Overview

The stadium officially opened on November 30, 1964. It had first opened in 1962 while still under construction to host a meeting between Al-Hilal Club and Al-Mourada SC for a national holiday in November 1962. It closed its doors after the festivities and was officially inaugurated two years later, on November 30, 1964, with a match between Al-Merrikh and

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

. In 2003, the Board of Al-Merrikh, chaired by Jamal Al-Wali, undertook the renovation of the stadium to build a new gallery and include new seats. The cost of its new renovations was estimated at 42 million dollars. The stadium is currently closed for reconstruction that will expand it to approximately 66,215 capacity. Al-Merrikh Stadium is located on Al-Baladya Street, Al-Arda (Arabic:العرضة) in the city of Omdurman, Sudan. The stadium was the neutral site of the

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

between

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

on November 18, 2009, which Algeria won 1–0 to qualify for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

References

External links

Photos
a
cafe.daum.net/stade

World Stadiums: Al-Merrikh
{{Coord, 15, 38, 28.6, N, 32, 28, 17.6, E, type:landmark, display=title Sports venues completed in 1964

Al-Merrikh Al-Merrikh Sporting Club () is a Sudanese professional football club based in the city of Omdurman. Their home stadium is Al-Merrikh Stadium, which is locally known as The Red Castle. Founded in 1908, Al-Merrikh is one of the oldest football cl ...

Omdurman Al Merrikh SC