Al-Rashid Stadium

Across Al-Nahda Road from the Dubai Police building sits the oldest ground in the city, raised by the Municipality of Dubai and opened in 1949. It has answered to three names in that span — Al-Ahli Stadium, Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium, and Al-Rashid, the one it goes by now — and to two landlords, since the 2017 merger that folded Al-Ahli Dubai into Shabab Al-Ahli, which owns and runs the place today.

Its capacity has gone up and back down again. An expansion in 2000 lifted it to 18,000; temporary stands went in for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, taking the ground to 12,056 for the round-of-16 tie in which South Korea beat Bahrain 2:1. When the tournament ended the temporary structures came out, and a technical refit followed: new turf, new lighting, VIP and press sectors reconfigured, the gymnasium brought back inside the building. The playing surface is Pure Dynasty seeded paspalum, laid in 2016 and looked after by SIS Pitches.

For a ground this size it has taken on a lot of tournament football. In 2003 it hosted the whole of Group C at the FIFA World Youth Championship — Brazil, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic — plus two quarter-finals and a semi-final; the UAE went out to Colombia 0:1 there, and Spain beat the same opponent 1:0 in the last four. The 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup brought eight more matches, among them the Mexico–Brazil quarter-final that finished 1:1 and ran to 11:10 on penalties. The 2015 AFC Champions League final was played here, as was Milan's 1:0 win over PSG in the Dubai Challenge Cup in January 2012. Rugby, festivals and concerts fill other dates.

In March 2024 a new stadium for Shabab Al-Ahli was approved, to replace it.