Friday Funny: Around The World In Search Of The 30 Most Architecturally Impressive Sports Stadiums

Posted by Heidi Schwartz

Beijing national stadium; Architect: Herzog & de Meuron, ArupSport, China Architectural Design & Research Group. (Photo: WikiCommons.)
Beijing national stadium; Architect: Herzog & de Meuron, ArupSport, China Architectural Design & Research Group. (Photo: WikiCommons.)

With the NCAA basketball tournament on the books, hockey and basketball seasons heading towards their playoffs, baseball in full swing, and World Cup Soccer about to begin, Sports Management Degree Hub has released a ranked list of the 30 most architecturally impressive sports stadiums in the world. The ranking was designed to be comprehensive, looking at dozens of stadiums all over the world for consideration. Ranking factors included history, architect notability, functionality, but above all else impressiveness of design.

Sports stadiums are often the crown jewel of a city, and there has been a worldwide building boom of new stadiums in the past two decades. These are not only some of the most incredible places in the world to watch sports, they are also some of the most awe inspiring workplaces in the world for the people who work in the sports industry. Stadiums are also some of the most extravagant and expensive public works projects in the world, and this list serves to highlight the most impressive.

Stadiums that made the list (listed alphabetically by city):

  • Arlington, Texas AT&T Stadium
  • Beijing, China Beijing National Aquatics Center
  • Beijing, China Beijing National Stadium
  • Calgary, Canada Scotiabank Saddledome
  • Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town Stadium
  • Donetsk, Ukraine Donbass Arena
  • Dublin, Ireland Aviva Stadium
  • East Rutherford, New Jersey MetLife Stadium
  • Foshan, China Century Lotus Stadium
  • Gdansk, Poland PGE Arena
  • Johannesburg, South Africa FNB Stadium
  • Kiev, Ukraine NSC Olimpiyskiy
  • London, England Emirates Stadium
  • London, England Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
  • London, England Wembley Stadium
  • Melbourne, Australia AAMI Park
  • Montreal, Canada Olympic Stadium
  • Munich, Germany Allianz Arena
  • Munich, Germany Olympiastadion
  • Pyongyang, North Korea Rungnado May Day Stadium
  • Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Estadio do Maracana
  • Sapporo, Japan Sapporo Dome
  • Shanghai, China Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena
  • Shanghai, China Shanghai Stadium
  • Shenzhen, China Universiade Sports Center
  • Sochi, Russia Fisht Olympic Stadium
  • Stockholm, Sweden Ericsson Globe
  • Warsaw, Poland National Stadium
  • Wroclaw, Poland Municipal Stadium
  • Zuoying District, Taiwan Kaohsiung National Stadium

The rankings can be viewed here.

Sports Management Degree Hub is an independent resource site for prospective and current sports management students. The goal of Sports Management Degree Hub is to provide helpful, unbiased information and rankings that are compiled using publicly available data.