Where would a 100,000 capacity home for Manchester United rank in global terms?

Manchester United have played at Old Trafford for 114 years and the place is starting to look like it. Any fan who has visited it recently will know that it is in need of an extensive upgrade.

The waterfall on the stadium’s roof during last season’s heavy rain was just the latest sign that the stadium has fallen into disrepair.

That’s why Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to build a state-of-the-art (and, you’d hope, waterproof) stadium on or near the original site – with the aim of it being a 100,000-seat stadium. .

It’s historically big in English football, but it wouldn’t be the biggest capacity venue on the planet. Here, then, are the stadiums that would surpass another 100,000-capacity home for Manchester United.

In the late 1980s, North Korea spent $200 million (then £370 million) building Rungrado Stadium May 1also known as May Day Stadium, to host the World Youth and Student Festival in 1989. It was an attempt to overtake neighboring South Korea after the success of the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

It has eight floors, covers an area of ​​over 200,000 square meters and was built with a capacity of 150,000, which is double the size of the Seoul Olympic Stadium.

And it still needs to be overcome.

North Korea’s May Day Stadium (Getty Images)

With a capacity of 132,000, Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India is the second largest stadium in the world.

It was opened in 2020 after a reconstruction on the original site of the stadium. On opening, after five years of construction, it knocked the Melbourne Cricket Ground (100,024) off the top spot as the world’s largest cricket venue.

It was named after the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, in 2021. And the first public event for which it opened its doors was “Namaste Trump” – an event to welcome the then President of the United States, Donald Trump, to the country. on a state visit in February 2020.

It hosted the 2023 Cricket World Cup final, which was stunned into silence when Australia thrashed India. The weeks before had been much louder as the hosts hammered arch-rivals Pakistan in front of a packed house.

Narendra Modi Stadium is vast (Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)

Now, get ready for an American theme, because college football is massive — and has the stadiums to prove it.

Michigan Stadium it is nicknamed “The Big House” for good reason. The 107,601 capacity stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan is the third largest in the world.

It opened in 1927 and its capacity has expanded several times. In 2013, for Michigan versus Notre Dame, a record crowd of 115,109 packed the venue.

When Manchester United and Real Madrid played a friendly in Ann Arbor in the summer of 2014, it set a record for the largest attendance at a soccer game in the country, with 109,318 fans there.

Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Since 2005, fans inside Beaver Stadium from Central Pennsylvania chanted Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation.

And it can be pretty loud for Penn State Nittany Lions games, with a capacity of 106,572. In 2018, the stadium reached a record 110,889 for a game against Ohio State.

It is the second largest place in the country and ranks 4th in the world. It has an “S” student zone, thanks to the jersey-wearing fans that make up the permanent mosaic in what is considered one of the best atmospheres in college football.

Beaver Stadium can seat more than 106,000 fans (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

The next one is Ohio Stadiumwhich has a capacity of 102,780.

Known locally as the “shoe” or “horseshoe,” the record attendance was achieved in 2016 when Ohio State hosted Michigan in front of 110,045.

The Ohio State Buckeyes have been here since 1922, but had company for two years in the late 1990s when Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew used the stadium to host home games before building their own purpose-built field.

Ohio Horseshoe (Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

Kyle Field it has been the home of the Texas A&M University Aggies football team since 1927. The College Station venue has a capacity of 102,733, but in 2014 it hosted 110,633 fans for a game against Ole Miss.

The attendance record was broken more recently when country music legend George Strait played to 110,905 in June of this year.

The Texas-born singer made history with the concert having the largest attendance ever for a ticketed concert in US history.

(Brian Bahr/Getty Images)

Renowned for its passionate atmosphere, Tiger Stadium it had a capacity of only 12,000 when it opened in 1924.

After a century, that has grown to 102,321 — a number Louisiana State University’s football team has drawn 16 times since 2015.

The Baton Rouge facility hosted the National Football League’s New Orleans Saints for four games during the 2005 NFL season following Hurricane Katrina.

(Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

The Alabama Crimson Tide played their games at Bryant-Denny Stadium since 1929.

The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa campus has a record attendance of 101,821. The stadium was recently renamed to honor former head coach Nick Saban.

The facility will now be known as Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium, and a special ceremony will be held on September 7 to commemorate the moment.

Bryant-Denny Stadium will soon have a new name (Kevin C Cox/Getty Images)

The Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Austin is home to another huge college soccer arena that ranks in the global top 10.

The home of the Texas Longhorns since 1924 has a capacity of 100,119. And in 2022 it received a record crowd of 105,213 for a game against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Darrell K Royal was a college football player who, as a coach, led the University of Texas to three national championships. In 1996, the stadium was named after Royal, who enlisted in the US Army during World War II.

(Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

So while the list of the world’s biggest stadiums is dominated by US college soccer, the news that Manchester United is interested in going big seems to be the latest development in a growing trend in soccer.

When the renovations are completed at Camp Nou, Barcelona’s home ground (which was the largest capacity venue in Europe with 99,354 before the redevelopment began in 2023), will be able to hold around 105,000. They hope to start returning – at a temporarily reduced capacity – by the end of 2024 and have asked for the first Clasico of the season to be played at Real Madrid’s renovated home, the Bernabeu.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia this week announced plans to build a 92,000-seat venue in Riyadh by 2029. The King Salman Stadium will become one of the world’s largest soccer stadiums.

This comes as Morocco prepares to build the world’s largest football ground. They have plans to build a 115,000-seat stadium for the 2030 World Cup, with Morocco co-hosting the tournament alongside Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Spain and Portugal.

(Header photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images))