The promise for the world biggest stadium
It was made by the King of Saudi Arabia, but it will not be in his country
Sports
March 15th, 2018
March 15th, 2018
The king of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdul Aziz, has made a big promise to the Iraqi state: to finance the construction of the new stadium in Baghdad, which - with an estimated capacity of 135 thousand seats- it would become the world's biggest stadium. The news was launched a few days ago by Arabnews.com that reported the phone call between the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi and the Saudi sovereign, who allegedly wanted to build a 135,000-seat facility in Baghdad (initially they had to be 'only' 100,000), more than double the current Basra stadium, the largest plant in the country. Underlying this agreement is the recent friendly won by Iraq against Saudi Arabia for 4-1, without a doubt a bad stop for the team coached by Juan Antonio Pizzi who in a few months will be committed to the next World Championships. Iraq, on the other hand, is currently 83rd in the FIFA rankings, there will not be any in the World Cup: in its history there is only one participation, that of Mexico 1986. In the Iraqi ranks only three players play in Europe: two in Sweden , one in Italy. This is the Udinese full-back Ali Adnan, but did not participate in the friendly.
The will to donate such a stage should be interpreted as a diplomatic approach of detente by the Saudi government towards neighboring Iraq, thus strengthening political relations after years of tension. Although throughout Iraq, there are already more than 20 construction sites open for the construction of new stadiums, such a project would facilitate the end of the long ban that had forced the national Iraqi, since 1990 and save a short period at the beginning of the 2000s, not being able to play international matches at home. Now the word passes to the Council of Ministers: the new stadium would exceed capacity (a concept almost always variable in time) the Rungrado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang (114,000 seats), the Camp Nou in Barcelona (about 99,000), the Soccer City Stadium of Johannesburg (about 94,000), Wembley (90,000), and Azteca of Mexico City (87,000).
