With the aim of increasing tourism and to capitalize on the rising status of football, the Emirati government made a plan to create a unique football stadium.^[1]

Rock Stadium was designed by MZ Architects, a firm with locations in countries including Lebanon, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.^[2] MZ Architects initially wanted to build the stadium in the desert, but after visiting the mountain, which reminded them of an Ancient Greek amphitheater, they decided to designed a stadium with natural hills for seats and a cave-like entrance that sunk into the ground.^[3]

The roof was proposed to be modeled after desert hills.^[4] Material excavated by constriction was proposed to be used for the stadium to be more sustainable.^[5] Lastly, the Rock Stadium was proposed to have a capacity of around 40000.^[6]

The Rock Stadium received attention from foreign media because of its unique design, and received several design awards.^[7] However, the stadium was never built.^[1]

History

References