Sports Architecture: The Latest Architecture and News

The FIFA World Cup 2026 will take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026, across North America, with matches hosted at 16 venues in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. For the first time, the tournament is being co-hosted by three countries: 11 venues in the United States, 3 in Mexico, and 2 in Canada. Since the 2018 FIFA Congress selected the venues to host the 2026 World Cup, the three North American countries have been working to deliver the tournament. This edition will be the first to feature 48 competing teams, expanded from 32. Unlike the 2022 Qatar World Cup, which required the construction of entirely new stadiums, the three host countries already have the necessary infrastructure in place, though several venues are taking the opportunity to upgrade their facilities, including Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, Arlington's AT&T Stadium, and Toronto's BMO Field.

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BDP, Cox Architecture, and Collage Design have unveiled the master plan for the 350-acre Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave in Ahmedabad, India. Positioned on the Sabarmati Riverfront and structured around the 132,000-seat Narendra Modi Stadium, the world's largest stadium by capacity, the project proposes a large-scale sports district integrating international competition venues with public landscapes and community facilities. Conceived as both an events precinct and an urban park, the development is intended to accommodate the 2030 Commonwealth Games centenary event, following Ahmedabad's selection as host city.

On February 5, 2026, Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest metropolis, was officially declared the host city of the 2029 Asian Winter Games. The Host City Contract was signed between the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan during a ceremony in Milan, Italy, one of the host cities of the ongoing Winter Olympics. Established in 1986 in Sapporo, Japan, the Asian Winter Games will mark their tenth edition in 2029 and are held approximately every four years. The announcement follows an earlier decision to postpone the Games, which were originally scheduled to take place in the Trojena ski resort, masterplanned by LAVA and currently under construction as part of the NEOM mega-project in Saudi Arabia.

The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics officially opened on Friday, February 6, with a ceremony staged across four locations in northern Italy. The main opening event took place at San Siro Stadium, one of Milan's most significant modernist landmarks, and combined dance and performing arts, referencing Italian culture with performances by international artists, including pop star Mariah Carey. Although several competitions had already begun on February 4, the opening ceremony marked the start of a broader programme of sporting, social, and cultural events distributed across Milan and the three Alpine host areas: Cortina d'Ampezzo, Valtellina, and Val di Fiemme. The Games are scheduled to run until February 22, concluding with a closing ceremony at the Verona Arena, ahead of the Paralympic Games, which will take place from March 6 to 15. As a large-scale international event, the Olympics place significant demands on sports infrastructure, transportation networks, accommodation, and tourism capacity, offering early indications of the longer-term urban, architectural, and territorial impacts the Games may leave behind.

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David Chipperfield Architects has released new images of the Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, one of the host sports venues for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. The project, currently in its testing phase, was commissioned to Arup and David Chipperfield Architects in 2021. The first images of the elliptical amphitheatre arena were released in 2022, ahead of the start of construction in 2023, which was scheduled for completion in 2025. The new sports and cultural events venue has a capacity of 16,000 spectators, 12,000 seated and 4,000 standing, and is a centrepiece of a broader urban redevelopment project originally designed by Foster + Partners for Milano Santa Giulia, a district in the south-east of Milan, just a few kilometres from the city centre and connected to the high-speed rail network and motorway.

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Unlike most popular sports, the origin of basketball has a precise year and creator: it was invented in 1891 in the United States by Canadian physical education instructor James Naismith as an indoor sport for athletes at Springfield College during the winter, after the end of the football season. The sport quickly expanded beyond U.S. borders, being included in the Olympic Games in 1936 and achieving international popularity after the Second World War. As basketball became more widespread, it also left the controlled environment of gymnasiums and began occupying a wide range of locations: playgrounds, public plazas, school courtyards, driveways, and backyard patios became informal courts for play and community life, reinforcing the role of physical activity as a catalyst for social interaction and neighborhood regeneration.

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Spanning multiple geographies and scales, this week's architecture news reflects ongoing discussions around long-term planning, institutional frameworks, and the public role of architecture. National-scale urban initiatives and large civic developments point to how planning and infrastructure are being used to reorganize cities and territorial systems, while parallel attention to stadiums, cultural facilities, and mixed-use projects highlights the expanding civic ambitions of large-scale architecture. Alongside these, interviews and heritage-focused projects foreground participatory practices and the careful reuse of existing structures, highlighting architecture's capacity to operate within complex social and political conditions. Recognition platforms and professional programs further situate these practices within a broader architectural discourse, offering insight into how contemporary work is evaluated and shared across regions.

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During 2025, several sports infrastructure projects were announced that remain on our radar, most of which are scheduled for completion between 2028 and 2030. Located across Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and North America, these projects reflect contemporary masterplan strategies for the transformation of large sports venues within their urban contexts. Many of the stadiums are planned as part of broader redevelopment frameworks that include new public spaces, mixed-use programs, event facilities, and mobility upgrades, rather than as isolated structures. Designs led by international offices such as Populous, Foster + Partners, Heatherwick Studio, OMA, Gensler, AFL Architects, and VUILD illustrate a range of architectural, urban, and infrastructural responses to the evolving role of large sports facilities.

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One month remains until the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, with competitions set to run from February 4 to 22, 2026. The Opening Ceremony will take place on February 6 at the Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium and will bring together approximately 2,900 athletes from around the world competing across 16 sports, with 116 gold medals to be awarded. The Olympic Winter Games return to Italy twenty years after Torino 2006 and seventy years after Cortina 1956. This edition, however, adopts a markedly different approach, proposing a shift away from the traditional high-cost, high-waste model toward adaptive reuse, renewable energy, and long-term regional development. The most geographically dispersed Winter Games in history plan to rely on 92% existing or temporary venues, build on regions with established tourism industries, avoid major environmental disruption, and implement circular design and recycling strategies, the results of which will become evident in the coming months. The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics will follow, taking place from March 6 to 15, 2026.

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OODA announces the House of Nassr, a new integrated sports complex designed for Al Nassr FC in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Planned as a comprehensive facility supporting both athletic performance and club operations, the project brings together a high-performance training centre, administrative and media spaces, athlete support facilities, and social areas, with a hotel scheduled for a second phase of development. The complex occupies an area of approximately 4,000 square meters. While the overall project remains ongoing, the first phase has been completed in 2025, marking OODA's first realized project in Saudi Arabia.

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Heatherwick Studio and MANICA Architecture have released the design for Birmingham City Football Club's new stadium, set to anchor the forthcoming Birmingham Sports Quarter in East Birmingham, England. The 62,000-seat venue, planned for Bordesley Green, forms part of a wider redevelopment strategy and coincides with the club's 150th anniversary. Developed through a competition led by filmmaker Steven Knight, the project aims to introduce a multifunctional sports and cultural venue integrated into its urban context.

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Tirana, the capital of Albania, is experiencing a rapid transformation driven by the long-term urban strategy outlined in the Tirana 2030 (TR030) Master Plan. Developed in 2017 by Stefano Boeri Architetti, UNLAB, and IND [Inter.National.Design] through a competition organized by the Ministry of Urban Development, the plan's objectives include increasing urban density, improving public infrastructure, and integrating green spaces and open areas into the urban fabric. It is in this dynamic setting that MVRDV has won the international competition for Tirana's new Asllan Rusi Sports Palace. Conceived as a mixed-use development, the project, named The Grand Ballroom, combines a 6,000-seat arena for basketball and volleyball with residential apartments, a hotel, and ground-level retail. With its spherical form exceeding 100 metres in diameter, the design adds a distinctive landmark to Tirana's growing collection of ambitious architectural projects.

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On September 30, 2025, AC Milan and Internazionale Milano football clubs announced that the Milan City Council had given preliminary approval for the sale of San Siro Stadium, officially named the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, one of the city's most recognized sports venues. Located about six kilometers from central Milan, the stadium is among the largest in Europe and was spared from demolition in 2023 after the Regional Commission for the Cultural Heritage of Lombardy recognized its cultural significance.

According to the clubs' joint statement, the City Government's latest decision will enable the design of a new international-standard stadium alongside an urban regeneration project for the surrounding area, reportedly led by Foster + Partners and MANICA. The announcement comes only months before the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, an event that will initiate the farewell period for San Siro as an active venue.

Henning Larsen has been selected to design Gothenburg's new Centralbadet, a public swimming and sports facility intended to strengthen the city's network of community and health-oriented spaces. The winning team includes Winell & Jern Architects, Ramboll, and John Dohlsten, Sports Science Lecturer at the University of Gothenburg. Organized by the City of Gothenburg, the competition included teams such as BIG and Wingårdh Arkitektkontor. The new center is planned as a multifunctional public facility that supports both everyday recreation and organized sport for residents of all ages.

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The first images have been released of the completed Athletes' Village for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, following its official handover to the Milano Cortina Foundation ahead of the Games in February. Developed by COIMA and designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the project has been envisioned as both a temporary residence for athletes and a long-term urban asset for the city. Delivered in 30 months and ahead of schedule, the Village is located within the Porta Romana railway yard, and comprises six new residential buildings and the restoration of two historic structures: the former Squadra Rialzo locomotive workshop and the Basilico building. Together, they provide housing for athletes during the Games, along with 40,000 square meters of community spaces, landscaped courtyards, and three sports courts.

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As cities and landscapes evolve, architecture is increasingly asked to support well-being, performance, and collective experience. From stadiums that honor deep cultural memory to intimate wellness spaces that foster restoration and connection, sports and wellness typologies are expanding beyond mere functionality. They create environments where movement and health intersect with design quality, sustainability, and social meaning. Today, these spaces range from elite training grounds and recreational clubs to contemplative retreats and inclusive public amenities, shaping how communities gather, heal, and celebrate shared identity.

This selection of unbuilt proposals submitted by the ArchDaily community illustrates that diversity. In São Paulo, Luiz Volpato Arquitetura reinvents the historic Santos Futebol Clube stadium with a geometry that preserves fans' memory while introducing new commercial and social uses. In Hanoi, Van Aelst I Nguyen and Partners bring filtered light and fresh air to a dense urban sports complex. In Dubai, RSP proposes Haven, a residential development anchored in holistic wellness and nature-driven experiences, while India's Tropic Responses imagines Aira Club as a climate-conscious leisure hub. High in the Himalayas, Gadasu + Partners carve a meditative spa into mountain stone, and in Isfahan, Arsh4d Studio rethinks segregated women's parks to create inclusive, future-oriented civic space.

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The Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat has officially opened as Morocco's new national stadium, following its inauguration by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan on September 4, 2025. Designed by Populous, the stadium has a capacity of 68,700 and was developed under the direction of the National Agency for Public Facilities of Morocco to meet FIFA standards, enabling it to host matches up to the semi-finals of the 2030 FIFA World Cup. The redevelopment replaces the original 1983 stadium, positioning it as Morocco's flagship sports venue ahead of a series of international events.

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On June 24, 2019, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo would host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. The last Winter Games to take place in Italy were held in Turin in 2006, and since then, climate change in the European continent has impacted traditional skiing venues. In this context, Italy has the advantage of a portion of the Alps, a strip of about 1,200 km along the borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia. The Italian Alpine region hosts most of the facilities that have been prepared over the past five years for the Winter Olympics, which will take place from February 6 to 22, 2026, followed by the Paralympic Games from March 6 to 15. Set to be the most geographically widespread Olympic Winter Games in history, this edition continues the sustainable model established by the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by relying almost entirely on existing and reconditioned sports infrastructure.

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