Stadium 974 (, previously known as Ras Abu Aboud Stadium) is a

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 ...

stadium in Ras Abu Aboud,

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

, Qatar, about 10km east of Doha. Officially opened on 30 November 2021, Stadium 974 was the first planned temporary venue in

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

history. The stadium hosted test matches during the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup and was a landmark venue during the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. The legacy plans involved dismantling the stadium and moving it to Africa or South America, and the former site to be transformed with a waterfront development. However as of February 2025, this has not happened and the stadium currently still sits in its original site. Most recently, the venue was used for the

2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup The 2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup (officially known as the FIFA Intercontinental Cup Qatar 2024 presented by Saudi Aramco, Aramco for sponsorship reasons) was the inaugural edition of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, an annual club association ...

and the 2024 Trophée des Champions.

Design and construction

Created by Spain's Fenwick Iribarren Architects in collaboration with Schlaich Bergermann Partner and Hilson Moran, this stadium utilised repurposed shipping containers and recycled steel, resulting in cost-effective construction and reduced waste. Constructed on a 450,000 square-metre (111-acre) waterfront site, it has a

modular design Modular design, or modularity in design, is a design principle that subdivides a system into smaller parts called ''modules'' (such as modular process skids), which can be independently created, modified, replaced, or exchanged with other modules ...

and incorporates 974 recycled

shipping container A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated box design, corrugated b ...

s in homage to the site's strategic location, industrial history and the international dialing code for Qatar ( +974). The construction of the stadium involved HBK Contracting Company (HBK), DCB-QA, Time Qatar, Fenwick Iribarren Architects (FI-A), Schlaich Bergermann Partner and Hilson Moran. Fenwick Iribarren Architects said "the idea was to avoid building a "

white elephant A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of without extreme difficulty, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, ...

", a stadium that is left unused or underused after the tournament ends, as happened following previous World Cups."

History

The stadium is one of eight stadiums built, renovated or reconstructed for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The procurement process for the stadium conversion began in 2017. The stadium was initially announced under the name Ras Abu Aboud Stadium. During a launch event on 20 November 2021, the venue was officially renamed Stadium 974. It hosted its first match on 30 November 2021 on the opening day of the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup, between the United Arab Emirates and Syria. The stadium hosted six matches during the tournament. The stadium hosted seven games in the

, including Brazil vs. South Korea in the Round of 16.

Post-World Cup

It was planned that the re-assembled stadium would be transported to a future Host Country nation. It was initially committed to go to Maldonado, Uruguay, where it would be used for the

2030 FIFA World Cup The 2030 FIFA World Cup will be the 24th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. Three countries will host the competition, representing, for the ...

with the vacated land used by the stadium being turned into a waterfront development. However the Uruguay–Argentina–Chile–Paraguay bid did not succeed. Other plans were floated to transport the Stadium to an African nation. However in November 2023, ESPN reported that the stadium is still standing in its original site with its World Cup signage still intact. In December 2024, the stadium hosted two matches of the

. On 5 January 2025, the stadium hosted the 2024 Trophée des Champions between

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and

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco (), is a professional football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the French Football Federation (FFF) and currently ...

. The QSL also saw the closing match of the 2024–2025 Ooredoo Stars League season in Week 16 between

Al Wakrah Al Wakrah () is the capital city of the Al Wakrah Municipality in Qatar. Al Wakrah's eastern edge touches the shores of the Persian Gulf and Qatar's capital Doha is situated immediately north of the city. Governed by Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Jassi ...

and

Al Rayyan Al Rayyan (; also spelled ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipalities of Qatar, municipality in Qatar. Its primary settlement is the Al Rayyan (city), city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and is a part of the Do ...

on 23 February.

Tournament results

All times are local, AST ( UTC+3).

2021 FIFA Arab Cup

2022 FIFA World Cup

Stadium 974 hosted seven matches during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup

Stadium 974 hosted two matches for the

References

{{2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums 974 2021 establishments in Qatar Sports venues completed in 2021 Portable buildings and shelters Sports venues in Doha