Football February 28, 2021

Education City and Ahmed Bin Ali nominated for Stadium of the Year

Education City and
Ahmed Bin Ali nominated for Stadium of the Year

Qatar is laying down the gauntlet early as two of their FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ stadiums have been nominated for this year’s prestigious Stadium of the Year awards held by StadiumDB.com.

The quest to identify the planet’s finest sporting venue sees Qatar’s Education City and Ahmed Bin Ali stadiums nominated amongst a twenty-strong list that includes stadiums from the USA, Romania, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Ivory Coast, Malaysia, China, Turkey and Chile.

The two stadiums are the latest to be officially inaugurated by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the organisation responsible for managing the projects for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. Both played host to the recently held FIFA World Club Cup™ in which Bayern Munich came out 1-0 winners over Tigres UANL.

Four FIFA World Cup™ stadiums for 2022 have now been completed. In addition to Education City and Ahmed Bin Ali, two other grounds have been inaugurated: Al Khalifa International and Al Janoub.

Voting in the competition will continue until 7th March with the winner being announced after both a popular and expert panel vote concludes. In the ‘Popular Vote’, people can select their ‘top five’ stadiums from the list of 20 candidates, giving a 5-star rating to the best stadium, 4 stars to the second and analogically with 3, 2 and 1 star.

The other stadiums from around the world nominated for the award include Allegiant Stadium (US), Batumi Stadium (Georgia), Bloomfield Stadium (Israel), Brentford Community Stadium (UK), Çorum Şehir Stadyumu (Turkey), Estadio Tierra de Campeones (Chile), Gürsel Aksel Stadyumu (Turkey), Inter Miami CF Stadium (US), Kanseki Stadium Tochigi (Japan), Lynn Family Stadium (US), Queensland Country Bank Stadium (Australia), Sanga Stadium by KYOCERA (Japan), SoFi Stadium (US), Stade de la Tuilière (Switzerland), Stade National de la Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Stadionul Francisc von Neuman (Romania), Sultan Ibrahim Stadium (Malaysia) and Xi’an OSC Stadium (China).

For the Stadium of the Year 2020, a Jury of architectural experts who cast their votes independently of the Popular Vote has also been selected. Their vote will result in a separate Stadium of the Year title, according to StadiumDB.com.

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ ambassador and Australian football icon Tim Cahill said Education City Stadium holds a special place in his heart and gets his vote. He explained his reasoning at the time of the inauguration of Education City Stadium.

“On a personal level, I left high school when I was 16 to pursue my dream of becoming a footballer. But I made sure not to forget about my education. Once my career was over, I enrolled in university and studied the business of entertainment, media and sports at Harvard in the US. One of the things I loved most about that experience was the appetite for learning that everyone had,” Cahill said at the time of the inauguration of Education City Stadium.

“Having spent time in Education City, I can tell that the students and teachers have that same passion. The area is full of schools and university campuses from global institutions, such as Georgetown and Carnegie Mellon. Education City Stadium is going to be a great addition to one of my favourite parts of Doha.”

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