- Address: Borg el-Arab
- Country: Egypt
- Capacity: 86,000
- Opened: 2009
- Main use: Football
- Tenants: Al-Masry (football)
Extra stadium info – Borg el-Arab Stadium
The Borg el-Arab Stadium is also known as a venue for athletics. It became the largest sports venue by capacity in Egypt. Joseph Blatter, a former FIFA president from the Swiss Confederation, visited the stadium in 2009. FIFA is known as the highest governing body of football. The Borg el-Arab Stadium hosted the first-ever 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup game. Egypt won the football match after beating Trinidad and Tobago 4-1. A crowd of 74,000 showed up for the world championship game. Ghana won the youth football tournament after defeating Brazil in the Egyptian city of Cairo. The final took place in front of 67,000 spectators.
Al-Masry
Al-Masry use the venue named Borg el-Arab Stadium for home games. The football club was founded in 1920. Al-Masry became one of the first Egyptian sports clubs with 1 million followers on its main social media page. They played numerous matches in the Egyptian top-flight football league. In 1998, Al-Masry won the Egyptian cup tournament for the first time in their history.
A stadium disaster
On 1 February 2012, Al-Masry won a game against Al-Ahly, the first African sports club with 10 million followers on its main social media page, 3-1. Al-Ahly became the first football club with 10 African championship titles after beating the Kaizer Chiefs from South Africa. A riot occurred following the Egyptian top-flight football league match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly. 74 people were killed and hundreds of people were injured during the riot. Many of the deaths were due to police refusal to open the stadium gates. 73 defendants, including nine police officers, were charged in the aftermath of the riots. Several convicted people were sentenced to death. A stadium ban followed after the riots.
