Safi – Morocco’s ambitious Stade Hassan II in Benslimane has earned international recognition after being named the Jury Winner at the 2026 Architizer A+ Awards in the Unbuilt Sports & Recreation category.
Designed by Populous alongside Moroccan-led firm Oualalou + Choi, the Grand Stade Hassan II is set to become the largest football stadium in the world, with a planned capacity of 115,000 spectators.
Moroccan architect Tarik Oualalou leads Oualalou + Choi, the Moroccan firm behind the project alongside Populous.
A jury prize from one of architecture’s biggest awards
The Architizer A+Awards are one of the world’s largest architecture programs, with more than a hundred categories.
This year a panel of over 250 jurors judged thousands of entries from around the world. They came from architecture and design as well as fashion, publishing and technology.
Each category has two winners, one picked by the jury and the other by public vote. Architizer announced the 14th edition earlier this month, and the Grand Stade Hassan II won the jury prize for unbuilt sports and recreation.
Its team won an international design competition in March 2024, back when the project was still called the Grand Stade de Casablanca.
A roof shaped by a Moroccan gathering
The roof draws inspiration from the moussem, the traditional Moroccan gathering with its clusters of tents. The canopy is an aluminum lattice stretched above the stands, and its lines echo the country’s mountains. It rises from a site planted as a forest.
Beneath the roof, botanical gardens cover the ground, and a second set sits 28 meters overhead. Thirty-two monumental stairways climb between them. Light filters through the translucent roof, designed to shelter a garden oasis.
Built to be the largest in the world
Its 115,000 seats would put it past North Korea’s May Day Stadium, the current record holder for football capacity. The site covers 100 hectares in El Mansouria, in Benslimane Province, about 40 kilometers from Casablanca.
The name still points to Casablanca, but the stadium stands well outside the city. Raja and Wydad, Casablanca’s two big rival clubs, will move there from the Stade Mohammed V once it opens, along with Morocco’s national team.
A venue for the 2030 World Cup
Morocco will co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal, marking the tournament’s centenary edition, 100 years after the inaugural World Cup in 1930.
The Kingdom has put forward Stade Hassan II as its proposed venue for the final, with the design fully aligned with FIFA’s hosting requirements.
It will also mark Morocco’s first time hosting the tournament on home soil.
Of the venues Morocco is readying for the tournament, this is the biggest. Morocco launched the project in 2023, and construction began on the site in 2025.
The stadium is expected to open ahead of the 2030 World Cup, but its award-winning design is already making headlines.
