Who doesn’t love a massive football stadium?! The kind which borders on obnoxiousness! Having said that, there are several football stadiums across the world which are not only massive, but are wonderfully designed too. Here in this short article, we will acquaint you with the four of the biggest football stadiums of the world, in terms of their seating capacity.
Rungrado May Day Stadium, Pyongyang, North Korea
With a seating capacity of a whopping 150,000 people, the Rungrado May Day Stadium is easily the biggest in the world. It has been built in the shape of a parachute, and its seating capacity is much larger compared to the Kim II Sung stadium which is not too far away from it. Not only does this colossal Stadium hosts a large majority of athletic competitions in North Korea, their annual Mass Games which feature both dance and gymnastics, as a tribute to the Korean culture, are held here as well. Furthermore, it is situated on an island, with only two roads serving as the exit and entry points.
Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
While FC Barcelona is not having the best time in La Liga, placed at fifth position on the table and many soccer odds stacked against them, their home stadium Camp Nou still holds its own in the football world. It can comfortably seat 99,354 people and apart from all the major football games, it also hosted a U2 concert once! Meaning ‘New Field’ in Spanish, the Camp Nou stadium easily stands out as the second-largest in the world and the largest in Europe. The old FC Barcelona stadium Les Corts became insufficient once the popularity of football skyrocketed in Barcelona because of the way Ladislao Kubala led the team to glory on many occasions. The replacement stadium used to be called ‘Estadi del FC Barcelona’ once, however, got rechristened as Camp Nou later.
Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico
With a seating capacity of 95,500 people, only marginally lower than that of Camp Nou, Estadio Azteca is the home stadium of Club America and the Mexican national football team. The largest stadium in Mexico, this one also played host to three FIFA World Cups and created many memories with legends like Pele and Diego Maradona. The stadium is now expected to host the opening game of the 2026 World Cup. And it’ll be a major feat if that happens! Its condition took a dramatic turn for the worse in 2018. Thereafter, multiple renovations have been carried out on the stadium and the unsuccessful hybrid turf makes it look a little shabby now, even forcing relocation of many football matches.
Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran
The home stadium of Persepolis FC, Esteghal FC and the Iranian national football team, Azadi Stadium in Tehran, Iran can accommodate 95,225 fans. It used to be earlier called Aryamehr Stadium and was originally constructed to function as a centrepiece venue for the Asian games held in Iran in 1974. Despite the fact that it is huge and can accommodate those many people, Azadi Stadium has run into multiple overcrowding problems in the past. In a rather revolutionary move, Iranian women who were earlier forbidden from watching men’s sports games, were allowed into the stadium for the first time on June 20, 2018.