Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium (; abbrev. SNHB) is a

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

Bandar Seri Begawan Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) is the capital and largest city of Brunei. It is officially a Municipalities of Brunei, municipal area () with an area of and an estimated population of 100,700 as of 2007. It is part of Brunei–Muara District, the s ...

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

. It is currently used mostly for

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

matches. The stadium holds 28,000 and was opened on 23 September 1983. It was named after Bruneian Sultan

Hassanal Bolkiah Hassanal Bolkiah Muiz'zaddin Wad'daulah (born 15 July 1946) is the List of sultans of Brunei, Sultan of Brunei since 1967, and Prime Minister of Brunei, prime minister of Brunei since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. He is one ...

Construction

The idea of constructing a modern stadium in Brunei was first made by the former Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien III to commemorate the visit of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

on February 29, 1972. A meeting was held on May 16, 1972 on which the special committee made a decision to build a stadium in Bandar Seri Begawan. Unusually for a public building in Brunei, members of the public donated and contributed towards the building of the stadium. Although the final collection of $1,102,761.57 accounted for a little more than 1.1 percent of the total building cost ($100 million), the public participation showed the Bruneians' great interest and support for this project. The entire project cost for the stadium is about $100 million.

Building

The stadium is long and wide. It can accommodate 30,000 spectators, which includes 110 seats for the royalties, 500 for the VIPs, and 3,000 in the grandstand section. It has four light towers — each is high and equipped with 108 2-kilowatt metal-halide lamps. The

grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

is covered with aluminium roofs which have a total length of and a total width of . The parking spaces can accommodate 2,785 private vehicles and 158 buses. The building is oriented in north-south direction with the grandstand located at the western section. It has a football field which fulfills

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

standards, as well as the running track which fulfills

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

standards. The stadium has a videomatrix scoreboard located at the northern section; it can display both

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and Jawi writing.

Opening

It was opened on 23 September 1983, the date was chosen to celebrate the 69th birthday of Bolkiah's father and predecessor Omar Ali Saifuddien III. On the evening of the opening day, a friendly football match was played between the

Brunei national football team The Brunei national football team (; recognised as Brunei Darussalam by FIFA), nicknamed ''Tebuan'' (The Wasps), is the National sports team, national team of Brunei, controlled by the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam. The team was fo ...

and an invited

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

team,

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. Despite the jet lag and the humid weather, Sheffield United won 1–0. The next day another match was held between United and a Brunei invited team which ended in a 1–1 draw.

Renovation

The stadium was renovated from 2021 and completed in the middle of 2022. Home matches for the national football team were held at the

Track & Field Sports Complex The Track and Field Sports Complex, Bandar Seri Begawan is a multi-use stadium in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei. It is currently used mostly for football matches as well as track and field events. The stadium holds 1,700 people. Its ...

instead. On 17 October 2023, the stadium hosted the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, opening its doors after last hosting the national team in 2019.

Major events

1999

* 20th Southeast Asian Games on 7–15 August.

2002

Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy The Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy for ASEAN Youth Football Championship, is the football tournament for youth players in Southeast Asia. It was opened to football players from ASEAN member states under the age of 21 years to participate in this. The ...

on 16–26 August.

2005

on 13–25 March.

2007

on 3–12 March.

2012

on 24 February–9 March.

2014

on 9–23 August.

References

* {{coord, 4, 55, 44.5, N, 114, 56, 43.6, E, type:landmark, display=title Football venues in Brunei Darussalam Athletics (track and field) venues in Brunei

Multi-purpose stadiums in Asia Singapore Premier League venues DPMM FC Southeast Asian Games stadiums Sport in Bandar Seri Begawan Buildings and structures in Bandar Seri Begawan