After hosting the Winter Olympics in 2010, BC Place Stadium is set to welcome another major sporting event in June, with the arena being one of 16 venues across the United States, Canada and Mexico for 2026 FIFA World Cup matches.

BC Place is a multi-purpose stadium located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It has been home to the Canadian Football League’s BC Lions since 1983 and to Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps FC since 2011.

The stadium features one of the largest cable-supported retractable roofs in the world, allowing it to host both indoor and outdoor sporting and non-sporting events.

Additionally, BC Place has 50 executive suites reserved for the wealthiest fans and a 360-degree video scoreboard for people inside the arena to follow the action.

“The retractable roof over BC Place is truly a technological marvel, transforming British Columbia’s largest and most versatile venue into a busier and more exciting place to host world-class events.

“BC Place is most iconically recognised for its retractable roof – the largest in the world. When retracted, the roof reveals over 7,500 square metres of sky. Below, our floor can be transformed from solid flooring to turf, lending itself to a multitude of events, conferences and tradeshows,” the stadium’s website said.

Owned by the Province of British Columbia, the 54,500-capacity stadium was opened in June 1983 after an estimated $126.1 million was spent to complete the project.

Since then, it has cost over $500 million to renovate the facility.

The stadium boasts of sustainable designs, including energy-saving lighting, modernised infrastructure to lower environmental impacts and reduced water consumption.

Multiple World Cup matches have been selected to take place at the arena. Co-hosts Canada will face Qatar at the venue, as will the New Zealand game against Egypt and Switzerland vs Canada.

New Zealand will face Belgium at BC Place in Vancouver, as will Australia vs Turkey, and two knockout-phase matches.

The arena has previously hosted several other major sports events, including the Paralympics, FIFA Women’s World Cup, BC Sports Hall of Fame, Canada Sevens (part of the World Rugby Sevens Series), CONCACAF Champions Cup, and CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Like many other venues, BC Place has hosted many musical concerts, with Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Madonna and The Jacksons being some of the biggest artists that have performed at the venue.