In the second blog in our Qatar 2022 series, we look at one of the region’s flagship stadia, the Khalifa International – also known as the National Stadium.
The Khalifa is Qatar’s most historic football venue, having previously hosted the Asian Games, Gulf Cup, Asian Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. It is located in Qatar’s capital city, Doha, which is one of the wealthiest cities in the world and home to 2.4 million residents – some 80% of Qatar’s population.
Doha boasts three World Cup venues, the other two being the Ras Abu Aboud and the Al-Thumama. The Khalifa was the subject of a major recent refurbishment, as part of Qatar’s plans to ready itself for hosting the World Cup. Thanks to Gravity Media’s presence in Doha since 2007 and our reputation for deep technical expertise and efficient delivery, we were the clear choice to win the contract to install the broadcast system at the 45,000-seat stadium.
A key requirement of the project was to enable broadcasters to plug into the infrastructure from multiple positions around the ground. Our team took on end-to-end responsibility for the job, first advising on planning and design, and then overseeing the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the entire system. The solution required 130,000 metres of cable and over 50 wall boxes, each connected to a central OB patch room that we kitted out with audio-video distribution infrastructure and conversion equipment.
The high-tech new stadium hosts its first World Cup match on Monday 21 November 2022, with seven further matches being held there up to the third-place play-off on Saturday 17 December.