Suez Stadium

The stadium sits at the edge of the city where the Hurgada-El Ismaeilia Highway runs past. It was opened in 1990, though the current structure dates from a renovation completed in 2013 that cost EGP 20 million and was executed by The Arab Contractors.

The view from the stands is dominated by the track. The red running surface separates the pitch from the blue seats, a spacing that ensures the noise from the 27,000 spectators does not get trapped in the bowl. Two floodlight towers rise above the far end, one a lattice of steel and the other a concrete shaft, both necessary to keep the game moving after dark. The pitch itself is natural grass without undersoil heating, a detail that matters when the humidity from the canal rises and the surface becomes heavy.

The ground’s purpose shifted in 2019. It hosted eight matches for the Africa Cup of Nations, a tournament that brought teams from across the continent to a venue that usually fills to 16,085, the record set when Tunisia played Mali in June of that year. Before that, it had been a quiet place for the local clubs, Petrojet SC, Asmant El-Suweis and Montakhab Elsuees, who have played their games here since the turn of the century. The official website for Petrojet is www.petrojet.com.eg, though it does not always load, a small sign of the infrastructure’s age.

What remains visible today is the work done for the 2019 tournament. The blue seats, the new advertising boards, and the clean lines of the concrete walkways all point to that single moment when the stadium was brought into the international light. After the matches ended, the lights went out and the town returned to its usual rhythm, but the capacity remained at 27,000, a figure that sits between the old records and the new reality of the club’s ambitions.