World’s first mobile stadium takes shape

Ras Abu Aboud Stadium, a 40,000-seat temporary venue billed as the world’s first ‘demountable’ stadium, is under construction in Doha, Qatar.

Constructed on an artificial promontory in the district of the same name, Ras Abu Aboud Stadium is being built to a modular design, and partly out of old shipping containers from Doha Port. It is one of eight new venues under construction ahead of the Fifa World Cup football competition in 2022.

The first moveable stadium in World Cup history, Ras Abu Aboud Stadium “will be entirely dismantled and repurposed post-2022, setting a new standard in tournament sustainability and legacy,” according to Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), which is overseeing the Qatar 2022 world cup.

In a tweet sent on Friday (16 October), the SC said the new venue is “slowly taking shape”:

Ras Abu Aboud is slowly taking shape!

Constructed using shipping containers and other modular building blocks, this innovative 40,000-seat venue will be entirely dismantled and repurposed #Qatar2022, setting a new standard in sustainability.https://t.co/m6lhcF4zWE pic.twitter.com/K2VXngc2K0

— SC News (@roadto2022news) October 16, 2020

After the tournament, says the SC, the “modular seats and even the roof will be disassembled and reused”.

What they’ll be reused for, however, is still under discussion: the Qatari authorities note its modular design “could provide the building blocks for another 40,000-seat stadium in a different location, or for several different types of sporting or non-sporting venues”.

The Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup takes place from 21 November to 18 December, with 32 national teams taking part.

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