The capital’s Zayed Sports City plans to add more facilities to boost visitor numbers in line with Abu Dhabi’s 2030 strategy.
The Mubadala Development-owned facility will open a 1,100 square metre indoor event dome on June 30 with a capacity of up to 1,000 people.
The venue also plans to add more multipurpose outdoor fields within three years.
Plans are currently being reviewed by the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council.
• See our graphic of what goes on at Zayed Sports City
Last year, Zayed Sports City recorded 1.64 million visitors, up from 1.2 million people in the previous year.
The master plan of the area that was drawn up in 2008 included sports venues besides the existing football stadium, residential towers, villas, retail, hotels, school and sports medical clinic along with recreational parks and a central canal.
Managed by Abu Dhabi Entertainment Company since 2010, Zayed Sports City has been around for the past 36 years.
“We will do renovation within and around the main stadium and there is no requirement to replace the existing facilities but [these] will undergo regular maintenance,” said Barry Bremner, the general manager of Zayed Sports City. “To increase the number of visitors we will host small music concerts in November and December for 3,000 to 5,000 attendees.”
• A bird's eye view of Zayed Sports City
The football stadium with a capacity for 43,000 people will host the Fifa Club World Cup in 2017-18 for the second time since the 2009-10 edition.
“The semis and the finals were full capacity then and there is no capacity to expand the stadium further,” Mr Bremner said.
Abu Dhabi’s 2030 strategy, unveiled in 2013, aims to expand the tourism, health, education and value-added manufacturing sectors.
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