Hammadi Agrebi Stadium, Rades

_{Edited with Canva — Hammadi Agrebi Olympic Stadium, Radès}

Hello steemians,

Here is my entry for Steemit Challenge Season 26 — Week 05 on A favourite sports or leisure facility, and I chose the Hammadi Agrebi Olympic Stadium in Radès because on Sunday, June 1, 2025 at 16:00 during the Tunisian Cup Final the bowl felt less like concrete and steel and more like a living instrument tuned by 60,000 throats, a feeling that began even before the turnstiles when I stopped for a quick check-in under the cable-stayed masts and then walked along the perimeter to admire how the circular ramps and tall pylons stage a sense of arrival that already puts you in match mode.

Selfie at the outer ring with the scalloped roof and mast cables behind me	Full exterior facade with pylons, trees and security lines set for a final

Getting there & first impressions

The stadium sits in the southern suburbs of Tunis (Radès) and is easy to reach by taking the SNCFT “banlieue sud” train to Radès station and then a short taxi ride or a spirited walk with the crowd, while by car or taxi it’s roughly 15–20 minutes from central Tunis outside rush hours, and arriving early matters because the concourses and stairwells are best experienced before they brim over, which I did on purpose so I could capture the pitch in its quiet, geometric perfection and also the calmer, practical corners that families care about like numbered rows, clear stair labels and tidy sightlines from the lower tier.

Warm-up panorama with crisp mowing stripes, dugouts and camera lanes visible	Blue lower-tier seats with glass barrier and steward line

A short, useful background

Opened in 2001 as the country’s national stage, the ground is a ~60–65k all-seater with a natural grass surface wrapped by a 400-meter track, and while some purists prefer football-only bowls, Radès compensates with a steep rake and an upper ring that traps sound and sends it back like surf, which becomes obvious the second the walk-out starts because the roof lattice turns drums into thunder and voices into a single rolling wave.

_{Teams emerging through sparks and smoke as stewards form corridors on the track}

Ambience inside the bowl (photos woven into the sentences)

Radès is famous for choreography that reads clearly from every seat so even supporters on the opposite side can “hear” the message with their eyes, which is why the home end’s banner felt like a headline shouted across the arena and later, as if answering from the other shore, an immense cinematic mural turned an entire stand into a storyboard with a central figure lifting the cup while the flanks unfolded like comic-panel scenes.

Giant tifo reading “LOCAL KINGS GLOBAL DREAMS”, gold letters on red with flags burning along the rim	Pan-stand choreo with the central character pointing toward a golden trophy, flanked by fortress-like drawings

The soundscape, though, is the real star, because chants start as murmurs and thicken until the roof seems to vibrate, a rising tide I tried to bottle by shooting across my own row where faces, phones and flags leaned forward as one and then, during a quiet spell, I turned toward the technical areas to show how television crews, analysts and fourth officials share the same stage as the game in small bursts of choreography you only notice when you pause.

Supporters mid-chant, red smoke curling under the roof while hands and cameras rise together	Clear look at the benches and track during a lull with distances and lanes easy to read

Because vantage matters for visitors, I also framed a central, flag-cut composition that explains why the sightlines here please both photographers and neutral fans and, once the final whistle came and the light turned gold, I stayed to watch the post-match ceremony build as stewards set ropes, camera operators staked cable lanes and clusters of supporters lingered in bright pockets around the ends, which felt more like the last verse of a long song than dispersal.

_{Golden-hour bustle on the track and turf as security, media and fans share the same stage}

Facilities, comfort & tips that actually help

The numbered seating and large sector signage make navigation easy, kiosks sell water and simple snacks (carry cash), toilets are spaced by sector and monitored on big match days, the aisles are wide enough to absorb goal surges safely, and the glass front barriers keep sightlines cleaner than heavy fencing, while for families the long-side central blocks are the calmest and for those chasing pure atmosphere the ends behind the goals deliver relentless song and tifo, if you plan to film or compile reels, bring a power bank, shoot the crowd during corners for the best emotion, and keep your bag small/transparent to pass security quickly and to close the sensory loop, here’s the moment the pitch became everyone’s stage during the presentations.

_{Field level brimming with crews, players and stewards as the podium goes up}

Ticketing, opening & affordability in one long sentence

There are no daily tourist hours here because the stadium opens per fixture, gates usually 2–3 hours before kick-off, league games are generally affordable while derbies and finals price higher, sales flow through clubs/FTF outlets or announced points, and the winning move is to **arrive ~90 minutes early to glide through checks, enjoy the corteo, and settle in time for anthems which also gives you a clean window to take a composed panorama from your seat.

A short video

To match the contest’s spirit of original media, I am also adding a short handheld clip from the opening whistle so the sound of the bowl can travel with the text which, together with the stills above, should serve any reader who wants not just information but texture.