Grand Stade Hassan II: Contracts, Progress and Access

The Grand Stade Hassan II is the only one of Morocco’s six 2030 World Cup venues being built from nothing. It is also the largest project of its kind in Africa: about 115,000 seats under a single tented roof on a site at El Mansouria, in Benslimane Province, about 38 kilometres north of central Casablanca, according to the design team.

It is under construction and is not open. This dossier sets out what has been designed, what has been contracted, how far the works have gone, and what is and is not known about getting there.

Status at a glance

The design

The stadium was designed by Populous, working with the Paris practice Oualalou + Choi, whose scheme won the design competition in March 2024. The concept draws on the moussem, the traditional Moroccan seasonal gathering, and places the whole stadium under one large tented roof set in a wooded landscape. Populous’s project page describes the concept and planned capacity.

At about 115,000 seats it would be the largest stadium in Africa on completion. FIFA’s minimum for a World Cup opening match or final is 80,000 seats, which is why the stadium features so prominently in Morocco’s case for the final. FIFA said in September 2026 that the venue for the final had not been decided.

What is being built

The project is managed through Morocco’s public infrastructure agency, ANEP. Construction began with site preparation in 2024, followed by structural works. The roof, seating, access roads and other facilities still have to be completed before the stadium can open. Contracts have been awarded in stages, but a contract award does not mean that part of the stadium is finished.

How far the works have gone

Earthworks began in August 2024 and were finished by around May 2025. The structural contract started in mid-2025, and in May 2026 the site was opened to foreign press for the first time; reports from that visit described work running in shifts around the clock but did not establish an independently verified overall completion percentage.

Two dates are worth separating. Some reports target late 2027, while earlier plans cited 2028. These are construction targets, not confirmed opening dates. A stadium is completed, then commissioned, then tested with events before it hosts a tournament.

Getting there: what is planned and what is not

This is where most planning mistakes will be made. The stadium is not in Casablanca, and there is no public transport to it today.

• Rail. ONCF’s programme of new stations for the Kenitra–Marrakech high-speed line includes a station serving the Grand Stade Hassan II, listed as the first lot of the stations programme. Station procurement was under way in late 2025. The station is not open and no service pattern has been published. See the rail dossier.
• Road. The site lies between the Casablanca and Rabat urban areas. Match-day road access, parking and park-and-ride arrangements have not been published.
• Where to stay. Until a match-day transport plan exists, assume a long transfer from central Casablanca, and compare Rabat and Mohammedia as bases only once rail services are confirmed.

What it means for visitors and residents

For visitors before 2030, there is nothing to see: the site is closed and works traffic is heavy around it. For a 2030 trip, the stadium’s location shapes everything else, from where to sleep to how long a match day lasts. For residents of the Casablanca–Rabat corridor, the project comes with years of construction traffic and, if the planned station and road links are delivered, a new transport node in a largely rural area.

What to watch next

The next milestones are the completion of the structure and the start of roof installation, the award of the remaining lots, the start of construction on the stadium’s railway station, and FIFA’s decisions on the schedule and the final. We update this dossier when one of them moves.