Biggest and best sports stadiums across the world

Sports stadiums just keep getting bigger and better, with facilities, technology and supporter experience continually improving. The Tokyo Olympic Stadium, in construction ahead of the 2020 Games, could raise the bar even higher. According to this article in the BBC, the design has been likened to a spaceship!

It’s bound to be a spectacular sight to behold once completed. Here is a selection of other impressive sports stadiums worth a visit…

Wembley Stadium

The spiritual home of English football was reconstructed and reopened again in 2007, the project costing £757m. It has a capacity of 90,000 and as well as staging domestic cup finals and England international fixtures it has hosted the 2011 and 2013 Champions League finals and a range of other sporting events including NFL games.

Camp Nou

The home of FC Barcelona is awe-inspiring and possibly the most famous in world football. It has an all-seated capacity of 99,354 but there have been lengthy discussions around planning to increase that to 105,000.

The Yankee Stadium

There are bigger stadiums in Major League Baseball – Dodger Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has the largest capacity at 56,000 – but Yankee Stadium is the best known. The current stadium is not the original; the new home for the New York Yankees opened in 2009 and cost $1.5 billion – the most expensive baseball stadium ever built.

MetLife Stadium

The only NFL stadium shared by two teams – New York Giants and Jets – MetLife, in New Jersey, has the distinction of being the most expensive stadium ever built at a cost of $1.6 billion. It has a capacity of 82,566.

Rungnado May Day Stadium

This a huge multi-purpose stadium in North Korea with 150,000 seats and eight storeys. There is a football pitch with natural grass, a 400m rubberised indoor running track, an indoor swimming pool and more.

Melbourne Cricket Ground

More commonly known as the MCG, this stadium is arguably the most iconic (though Lord’s is also a contender) in world cricket. With a capacity of 100,000 and a rich heritage – the first Test Match it hosted was Australia v England in 1877 – this is on the bucket list of any true cricket fan.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The stadium which hosts the famous Indianapolis 500, this is the highest-capacity sports venue in the world with seating for around 257,000. It was constructed in 1909 for a reported cost of $3m: a fortune over a century ago but absolute peanuts by today’s standards.

AT&T Stadium

The home of the Dallas Cowboys, the AT&T Stadium was previously known as the Cowboys Stadium. It has a seated capacity of 80,000, which expands to 105,000 with standing room (there were 105,121 people for the Cowboys v Giants game in September 2009) and features a retractable roof.