EKA Arena (formerly The Arena) is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

in Ahmedabad,

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

, located near

Kankaria Lake Kankaria Lake is the second largest lake in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It is located in the south-eastern part of the city, in the Maninagar area. It was completed in 1451 during the reign of Sultan Qutb-ud-Din Ahmad Shah II though its origin ...

. The stadium was completed by and officially opened on 7 October 2016. It was built in a public-private partnership between the

Government of Gujarat The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...

and SE TransStadia, a company led by entrepreneur Udit Sheth. The stadium seats 20,000 spectators in its main football configuration. It is capable of being partitioned into an

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectator ...

, allowing it to host other sporting events (such as

kabaddi Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...

and

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

History

TransStadia was established by entrepreneur Udit Sheth after being introduced to British footballer and stadium consultant Paul Fletcher. Sheth sought to build a multi-purpose stadium on an otherwise-unused property in Gujarat, licensing technology from Fletcher's company StadiArena to allow part of the facility to be converted into an indoor arena to maximise its utilisation. Sheth stated that the design of the stadium and its facilities were intended to meet the needs of players, spectators, and broadcasters, including training facilities, ensuring there were no obstructed views and adequate fibreoptic connections for

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio w ...

, and working with

Star Sports Star Sports refers to several current or former Asian sports networks owned by The Walt Disney Company: * Star Sports (East Asian TV channel) * Star Sports (Indian TV network) * Fox Sports (Southeast Asian TV network) Fox Sports (formerly ESPN ...

officials to plan the necessary infrastructure for broadcasting. He cited

Amsterdam Arena The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...

, the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of ...

, and

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

as influences on its overall design. Hamza-lonestar

The facility cost ₹550 crore to construct, as part of a public-private partnership with the state government; Sheth explained that "the project would not have been viable if we decided to charge commercial market value rent and still expected sports to develop. A regular project will recover money in around five years while we will do it in seven to nine years." Its indoor arena hosted its facility's first sporting event — the

2016 Kabaddi World Cup The 2016 Kabaddi World Cup was the third edition of the standard-style Kabaddi World Cup. It was organised by the International Kabaddi Federation and contested from 7 to 22 October 2016 in Ahmedabad, India. Twelve countries competed in the t ...

—in November 2016. A formal inauguration ceremony was held 30 June 2017, attended by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

and other political and sporting dignitaries. During a speech at the ceremony, Sheth referred to The Arena as "the most modern stadium in the world".

Major events

Kabaddi

The Arena hosted the

Kabaddi World Cup Kabbadi World Cup may refer to: * Kabaddi World Cup (Standard style), an indoor international competition conducted by the International Kabaddi Federation * Kabaddi World Cup (Circle style), an annual international competition administered by th ...

in 2016. It has hosted legs of the Pro Kabaddi League, serving as designated home arena of the Gujarat Giants.

Football

In July 2019, the stadium hosted the 2019 Intercontinental Cup, marking the first international football matches held at The Arena. It was to host matches during the

2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, later postponed and renamed as the 2021 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup before its cancellation, was originally going to be the 7th edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's y ...

, but the tournament was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. India were awarded the 2022 tournament, but Ahmedabad was not named a host city. It hosted football during the

2022 National Games of India The 2022 National Games of India, also known as the ''36th National Games of India'' and informally as Gujarat 2022, was the 36th edition of the National Games of India and was held in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhav ...

References

External links