Al-Sa'ada Stadium (), which is part of Al-Sa'ada Sports Complex (), is a government-owned 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 ...

in the Al-Sa'ada district of

Salalah Salalah () is the capital and largest city of the southern Omani Governorates of Oman, governorate of Dhofar Governorate, Dhofar. It has a population close to 331,949. Salalah is the third-largest city in the Sultanate of Oman, and the largest ...

, in southern

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. The stadium is used only 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 ...

matches and is the home stadium of Salalah-based clubs

Dhofar The Dhofar Governorate () is the largest of the 11 governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah Governorate and the southern border with Saudi Arabia's Easter ...

, and

Al-Nasr Al-Nassr Football Club () is a professional football club based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The club competes in the Saudi Pro League, the top tier of the Saudi football league system. Al-Nassr is one of only three clubs to have participated ...

. The stadium originally had an estimated capacity of 12,000 people, but with the 2010 renovation making the stadium an

all-seater An all-seater stadium is a sports stadium in which every spectator has a seat. This is commonplace in professional association football stadiums in nations such as the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands. Most association football and Amer ...

, the maximum capacity decreased to an estimated 8 to 9 thousand spectators. Although opened officially in 2009, the stadium has been undergoing renovation ever since, and because of protest from the football community in the city because of the unexpected outcome, the stadium has undergone a plan to eventually house close to 20,000 spectators. Aside from the

itself, there is also a

sports complex A sports complex is a group of sports facilities. For example, there are track and field stadiums, football stadiums, baseball stadiums, swimming pools, Olympic Parks, and indoor arenas. Asia * Azadi Sport Complex * Cebu City Sports Com ...

housed within the compound, which includes a

field hockey pitch A hockey pitch is the playing surface for the game of field hockey. Historically, the game was played on natural turf (grass) and nowadays it is predominantly played on an artificial turf. The transition to artificial pitches came during the 197 ...

, a

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

, an

Olympic-size swimming pool An Olympic-size swimming pool is a swimming pool which conforms to the regulations for length, breadth, and depth made by World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for swimming at the Summer Olympics and the swimming events at the World Aquatics Champions ...

, and an indoor

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

stadium. Unlike the

Salalah Sports Complex Salalah Sports Complex (), also known as The Youth Complex (), is a government-owned multi-purpose stadium in the ''Auwqad'' district of Salalah, in southern Oman. It is currently used mainly for football Football is a family of team sports ...

located in the Auwqad district of Salalah, the Al-Saada Stadium features seating completely around the field, and does not include a

running track An all-weather running track is a rubberized, artificial running surface for track and field athletics. It provides a consistent surface for competitors to test their athletic ability unencumbered by adverse weather conditions. Historically, v ...

, making the atmosphere more powerful and closer to the action.

Controversy

The stadium has been subject to criticism, especially from influential people in Salalah. Omani

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

, Al-Shabiba has published an article on February 1, 201
منتديات كووورة
about the stadium by writer, Mohammed Al-Rawas pointing out the main issues with the stadium. In it, it states that it has taken much longer than expected for it to finish, no seating whatsoever was installed, and the end result was just not what was expected. The article also mentions no installation of a parking lot. Abdul-Hakim Ba-Mukhalaf, Ali Al-Ra'ood, Nayyif Al-Marhoon, and Dhofar S.C. president, Badr bin Ali Al-Rawas also join writer, Mohammed Al-Rawas in the long article criticizing the construction, planning, and disappointing end-result of the stadium. According to Al-Shabiba's article from February 1, 2010, the stadium was planned to be completely finished in 15 months, but in fact, it has taken nearly 4 years and is still experiencing construction. The leading football

forum Forum or The Forum may refer to: Common uses *Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example * Internet forum, discussion board ...

in the

Arab World The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

Kooora.com
has also been the place of criticism towards the stadium with various members opening threads explaining their disappointment in the outcome. KooooraWaBas has also written an article about the stadium explaining the poor managing and planning of the stadium, lack of giving live feeds of matches, and no match clock installed.http://www.koooorawabas.com/articles.php?mqal=412 KooooraWaBas article on Al-Saada stadium -- No live matches, no match clock!

Tenants

Al-Saada Stadium is the new home to

FC as well as

FC, replacing their old home; the

. The stadium also hosts various teams from Salalah in the second division, as well as

Mirbat Mirbat () is a coastal town in the Dhofar governorate, in southwestern Oman. In 2020, the town had a population of 9,886, while the wilayat as a whole had a population of 16,364. It was the site of the 1972 Battle of Mirbat between Communist g ...

Trivia

* The first international friendly between

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

and

was held in 2009 in this stadium. * Location of this stadium is close to the ongoing construction of the new location of the Dhofar University. * Many times the venue is confused with the Salalah Sports Complex when Dhofari clubs play home matches.

Gallery

File:Oman vs KSA Al Saada Stadium August142009 Salalah4life.jpg, The stadium before the expansion during an international match between

and

(12 August 2009)

References

External links