When the world's stadiums were built
More of today's listed stadiums opened in the 2000s than in any other decade: 325 of the 2,233. The 2010s follow with 280, and 107 have opened since 2020. The new stadiums are also larger: the median recorded capacity is 21,587 for stadiums opened in the 1920s, 24,712 for the 1990s and 33,000 for those opened since 2020.
The opening year is the one in each stadium's Wikipedia infobox. These counts describe stadiums that still stand and hold at least 10,000 today; grounds that were demolished or replaced are not counted, which keeps the early decades low. The 90 stadiums that opened before 1900 are covered in the story on the oldest stadiums still in use.
Openings by decade
Listed stadiums by the decade of their recorded opening year, 1900 to 2026.
The chart has two peaks. The first is the 1920s, with 172 openings, most of them in Europe and North America; the second starts in the 1990s and is highest in the 2000s. Between the two, the 1940s have the fewest openings, 81.
The century began slowly: 36 of today's listed stadiums opened in the 1900s and 60 in the 1910s. Even so, two of the largest stadiums on the site date from those decades, Kyle Field (1905) and Camp Randall Stadium (1917).
Larger stadiums, decade after decade
| Decade | Opened | Median capacity | Largest opened | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 36 | 18,436 | Kyle Field | 102,733 |
| 1910s | 60 | 20,670 | Camp Randall Stadium | 76,030 |
| 1920s | 172 | 21,587 | Michigan Stadium | 107,600 |
| 1930s | 124 | 20,262 | Cotton Bowl | 92,100 |
| 1940s | 81 | 18,895 | Bernabéu | 83,186 |
| 1950s | 181 | 22,140 | Lambeau Field | 81,441 |
| 1960s | 197 | 21,500 | Beaver Stadium | 106,304 |
| 1970s | 192 | 22,067 | Westfalenstadion | 80,667 |
| 1980s | 172 | 21,006 | Rungrado 1st of May Stadium | 113,281 |
| 1990s | 216 | 24,712 | Bukit Jalil National Stadium | 87,411 |
| 2000s | 325 | 28,000 | Beijing National Stadium | 91,000 |
| 2010s | 280 | 30,000 | MetLife Stadium | 82,500 |
| 2020s | 107 | 33,000 | Narendra Modi Stadium | 132,000 |
The median moves little between the 1900s and the 1980s, staying around 20,000. It rises from the 1990s on: 24,712, then 28,000 in the 2000s, 30,000 in the 2010s and 33,000 so far in the 2020s. The largest stadium of the current decade on the site is Narendra Modi Stadium, opened in 2020.
Europe, then Asia
The balance between continents changed decade by decade. In the 1960s Europe still opened the most of today's listed stadiums (56, against 53 in North America and 41 in Asia). By the 1980s Asia led with 63, while Europe had 25. In the 2000s Asia opened 119 and Europe 94; in the 2010s the figures were 122 and 72. Within the 2010s, China opened 40, the United States opened 34, Turkey opened 20 and India opened 18.
The largest stadium of each decade tells the same story from the top. Michigan Stadium is the largest of the 1920s, Beaver Stadium of the 1960s, Rungrado 1st of May Stadium of the 1980s and Narendra Modi Stadium of the 2020s so far; the table above lists all of them.
The 2020s so far
Since 2020, 107 listed stadiums have opened in 38 nations. The largest are Narendra Modi Stadium (2020, 132,000), New Administrative Capital Stadium (2024, 93,940), Lusail Stadium (2021, 88,966) and Jakarta International Stadium (2022, 82,000). The finder lists all of them from the largest down.
Renovation follows building
Openings are only half of the record. The articles also give years of renovation and expansion, and these cluster in the same recent decades: 612 renovation or expansion years fall in the 2000s and 702 in the 2010s, against 174 in the 1970s. For the 2010s that means 702 renovation or expansion years against 280 openings.
The middle of the century was steady. The 1950s, 1960s and 1970s each opened between 181 and 197 of today's listed stadiums, and the largest of each were Lambeau Field in the 1950s, Beaver Stadium in the 1960s and Westfalenstadion in the 1970s.
Where the new stadiums are
Asia leads every decade from the 1970s onwards. Of the 712 listed stadiums opened since 2000, 301 are in Asia, 181 in Europe and 127 in North America. By nation, the United States has 91, China has 87, India has 39 and South Korea has 33. Of them, 59 were World Cup venues and 24 Olympic venues.
Of the 48 stadiums with a retractable roof on the site, 33 opened in 2000 or later.
The finder, set to stadiums opened from 2020, lists the newest ones by size.
Source: infobox opening years and categories of the English Wikipedia article of each stadium, read on 28 October 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How we count.