Sabah Al Salem Stadium
Breathing new life into sport in Kuwait
Al Arabi Sports Club was founded in 1960 and is the first official sports club to be established in Kuwait.
In 2017 with growing activity, profile and scope at the club, The Public Authority for Youth and Sports commissioned Pace to redesign and supervise the construction of the club’s centrepiece stadium as part of an ambitious plan to almost double its capacity from 17,000 to 30,000 seats and expand the facilities of the club to increase its ability to embrace other sports.
The client’s objectives were clear, to create a world-class and multi-functional stadium that embraces more than just one sport, while reflecting their own ambition to raise the profile and practice of football excellence in the country. One of the key criteria was to design a stadium that doubles the seating capacity of the existing stadium while preserving the same footprint area requirements. This will involve demolishing the existing stadium and replacing it with a new stadium as per FIFA and UEFA standards. Upon completion, the stadium will be the only FIFA-compliant venue in Kuwait.
A white continuous block makes the wall and roof look like one element. This element wraps around the tiers as tightly as possible and incorporates the symbol of the club. Wheat leaves on the logo were chosen as the symbol for the new era in the life of the club as they mean growth and prosperity.
The project was awarded ‘Best Future Stadium Design’ at the World Stadium Congress in 2019, a first stadia award for the country of Kuwait.
Client
Public Authority for Sports
Area
19,000sqm plot
30,000 seats
Value
US$165.7 million
Completion
2022
Services
Architectural design
Construction supervision
Feasibility studies.
