Al Sunbula Stadium – design description

What does the design of the new stadium in Ad-Diwaniyah involve?

Ad-Diwaniyah's new stadium is to be built in its southern suburbs, about 8 km from the centre, away from dense urban development. Arena has been designed by Turkish studio Bahadir Kul Architecture. The facility will have a typical football layout and will accommodate 30,000 spectators. Together with the stadium, an entire sports complex is to be built, which will also include two training pitches with stands for 2,000 and 500 spectators respectively, a sports hall for 2,500 spectators and a hotel.

Stadium will take a rectangular form, with gently rounded contours. Stands will be divided into two tiers and will be fully covered by a roof. Boxes will be located on the west side. A distinctive feature of the arena will be an original façade composed of segments imitating ears of wheat (this theme even appears in the name of stadium - sunbula is Arabic for ear). Facility is intended to serve Al-Diwaniya SC footballers in the future.

When will Al Sunbula Stadium be built?

Construction of the stadium began in mid 2013, with Turkish company Rönesans Construction as the main contractor. Cost to complete the project is estimated for 114.45 billion Iraqi dinars, with money coming from funds from the Ministry of Youth and Sports. However, due to financial crisis, work was halted in 2015.

At the time of interruption, most of the reinforced concrete grandstand structure was ready. Construction was resumed in 2018, at which time it was possible to complete installation of the tribune steps on the upper tier behind the north gate. After that, work was halted again. Work resumed again in October 2022.