King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah nears completion

The prestigious new King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah would be completed at the end of this month and is likely to host sports events in December, sources told Arab News recently.
A leading Saudi company executing the project is set to complete the main football stadium by the end of this month. Construction is taking place 24 hours a day following the decision to move the 22nd Gulf Football Cup to the Kingdom from Basra in Iraq. However, it is still unclear whether the Gulf Cup would be held at the stadium.
Friendly football matches would be held in the stadium next month, the sources said. The formal handing over of the multi-sports complex to the General Presidency of Youth Welfare would take place in October 2014, said the sources.
The project is spread over three million square meters and has a world-class 60,000-capacity soccer stadium, royal suites and VIP cabins close to the ground.
The complex was initially planned to have a capacity of 100,000 seats but was later reduced to 60,000 seats. The government assigned Aramco to execute the project in 2009. The company issued tenders in 2010 and 2011 and signed the construction contract with Belgium’s BESIX, partnered by Al-Muhaidib contracting company of Jeddah.
The construction began in 2012. This is the second big soccer stadium in the Kingdom along with King Fahd stadium in Riyadh.
The sports city has state-of-the-art facilities and meets the standards of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) to host international matches.
It also has a mosque, 10,000-seater indoor sports arena, an outdoor athletics stadium, and several other outdoor sport facilities such as tennis courts and soccer practice pitches. It also has arenas for badminton, basketball, handball, volleyball, and track and field.
Once completed, the six tennis courts and swimming pools would meet international standards. It also has an auditorium for conferences and parking facility for 25,000 vehicles, the largest in Jeddah. It has six main entrances, but only four would be opened, the sources said.
The sports city will have over 308 seats earmarked for persons with special needs, with separate toilets and elevators for them. The stadium seating system is built on three levels facilitating a clear view of the ground. The roof is covered with special hard cloth with steel mesh to protect spectators from the sun and rain. Advanced technology is in place to control the temperature in the stadium.
The Ministry of Transport has built five link roads to the sports city, with easy access from Madinah Road and the Haramain Expressway.