Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Delhi)

The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was constructed by the Government of India to host the 1982 Asian Games. A total of 3,411 athletes from 33 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in these games, competing in 196 events in 21 sports and 23 disciplines. This was the first Asian Games to be held under the aegis of the Olympic Council of Asia. The stadium hosted the athletic events and opening and closing ceremonies. The capacity of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was 78,000 during the games.[2]

The stadium also hosted the 1989 Asian Championships in Athletics. 19 nations participated in the championships.

Renovation

Exploded view of the stadium's layers

A view of construction work of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, in New Delhi on June 13, 2008

Delhi was selected as the host city of the 2010 Commonwealth Games on 14 November 2003 during the CGF General Assembly in Montego Bay, Jamaica, defeating the competing bid from Hamilton, Canada.[7] In 2006, the Indian government decided to renovate the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for the Commonwealth Games.

The Indian government chose the design of the German architectural company Gerkan, Marg and Partners.[4] Renovation of the stadium started in 2007. Nearly 4,000 construction workers worked on the stadium in double shifts. The substantially remodelled and modernised stadium was inaugurated on 27 July 2010.[8] The stadium was given a new roof, improved seating, and other new facilities to meet international standards to allow it to host the athletic events and the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.[3] The capacity of the stadium was reduced from 78,000 to 60,254. The cost of the renovation was around US$150 million (₹961 crores).[9]

The 53,800 m² (579,000 sq ft) Teflon-coated roof, designed by the German structural engineering and consulting firm Schlaich Bergermann & Partner, was built at a cost of US$48 million (₹308 crores).[10] Taiyo Membrane Corporation supplied and installed the PTFE glass fibre fabric roof.[11] It is the one of the largest membrane roof system in the world. 8,500 tonnes of steel were used in the construction of the stadium's roof and its support structure. The support structure for the new roof is similar to London's Olympic Stadium. In case of emergency, the construction allows for all 60,000 spectators to be safely evacuated within 6 minutes.

A new Electro-Voice professional audio system by Bosch Communications was set up in the stadium.[12] A new 10-lane synthetic Olympic standard running track and a synthetic grass field were added. A 400-metre warm-up track was also constructed. A 150 metre long tunnel was constructed for the opening and closing ceremonies. The design is similar to Foshan Stadium in China, built by the same design company.

Two new venues were constructed next to the stadium for the Games: four synthetic greens for the lawn bowls event and a 2,500-seat gymnasium for the weightlifting event. The stadium is a part of the Jawaharlal Nehru sports complex which houses the headquarters of the Sports Authority of India, the field arm of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Indian Olympic Association.[13]

2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was the main venue for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. It hosted the opening and closing ceremonies as well as athletics events for the games. The stadium underwent massive redesign and reconstruction for the biggest multi-sport event hosted by India to that date. It was opened to the general public on 27 July 2010.[14]

In July 2010, the first-ever Asian All Asian Athletics Championship was held. Over 1,500 students from schools came to see the event. The opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games has been held. Security for the ceremony used NSG, CRPF and Delhi police personnel. Tickets were checked by electronic ticket checking machine similar to the ones used in the Delhi Metro. There are over 350 CCTV cameras in the venue. Delhi was closed, in the sense that all the malls, shops, offices, and call-centers in Delhi were closed before and during the ceremony.

I League matches have also been played here. The stadium was the main venue for the 2011 South Asian Football Federation Cup.

On 10 January 2012, the Government of India, and Audi, co-hosted a friendly football exhibition match between the Indian National Football Team and Bayern Munich at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. In this one-sided affair, the German club has defeated Indian team by 4–0 in front of 30,000 spectators. This was the farewell match to Baichung Bhutia as Indian National Football Team captain.

Since 2014 Indian Super League season, it has been home ground for Delhi Dynamos FC.[15]

The stadium hosted 8 matches (including 2 Round of 16 matches) of the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.[6] It will be used again for the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.

At the end of 2017–18 Indian Super League season, the football pitch in the stadium was named as "Best Pitch" in the league by ISL itself.[16]

Aerial image of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium

The Indian team will play its home matches in the Nehru Stadium after it was handed over by Sports Ministry to the AIFF.[17] India's first match in the new stadium was to be played against UAE in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification play-off in July 2011.[18] However, this match was shifted to Ambedkar Stadium because of the unplayable conditions at the Nehru stadium.[19] The 2011 SAFF Cup was held here from 2 - 11 Dec 2011, with the Indian team emerging victorious. The 2012 Nehru Cup was held from 23 August to 2 September at this venue.[20]

The stadium played host to Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! Benefit Concert on 30 September 1988. The show was headlined by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, and also featured Sting and Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'Dour, and Ravi Shankar.

The project was led and managed by Mr. Ramji Lal from CPWD.

Michael Jackson was scheduled to perform 2 concerts at the stadium in December 1993 as a part of his Dangerous World Tour. Some tickets were also sold. This would have been the first time Jackson would have performed in India. MTV India and other T.V. channels played Jackson's music videos months before the concert which created mass hysteria and anticipation in the public for the concerts and Jackson's visit to India. Both the concerts were expected to be sold out. These two concerts were scheduled to be the last performances of the tour. Unfortunately the concerts in Delhi along with the dates for Indonesia and Australia were cancelled due to Jackson's health problems.

The Stadium has hosted two One Day International matches featuring India against Australia in 1984 which incidentally, was the first day-night one day international match under floodlights to be held in India.[21] and South Africa in 1991, again the fixture being a day night one (also being the second ever day-night cricket match in India) . Batsman Kepler Wessels played in both the matches but for different countries and scored 107 for Australia and 90 for South Africa.[22]

A highly unusual feature of the ground was the inclusion of the running track as part of the cricket playing outfield area. The ICC's playing regulations eventually discontinued permission for the running track to be used in this way and thus the stadium was felt to be no longer suitable for cricket.

ODI matches hosted

Team (A)	Team (B)	Winner	Margin	Year
India	Australia	Australia	By 48 runs	1984
India	South Africa	South Africa	By 8 wickets	1991

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi.

• Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium - Sports Authority of India
• Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium - Tripadvisor
• Football temples of the world - India
• Cricinfo - Grounds - Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi
• World Stadiums Article