The first Philippine stadium to qualify for FIFA to host international matches at a high level. The Philippines has never had such an arena before. It has a capacity of only 20,000 and is also designed to host athletics competitions.
History
Before the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippine Olympic Committee had previously planned to build a national training center near Metro Manila, but negotiations for such a center did not lead to much progress. Duterte personally led the Philippine Sports Commission head, William Ramirez, to “take the lead,” which led to Ramirez negotiating with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on plans to replace the old Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.
After Filipino weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz’s silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, PSC announced plans to build a “Philippine Olympic City” in New Clark City.
Ramirez said the sports center, which would house national athletes and sports facilities, would be one of the main attractions of New Clark City, then called Clark Green City, and could be the main venue for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games that would be held around the country. Ramirez said he hopes to have the sports complex open by 2018. The sports complex will have the Base Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) as the main body involved in its construction after a meeting between the PSC Board and BCDA President Vince Dizon.
The Philippine Sports Commission estimates that the project will cost from ₱ 3 billion to ₱ 6 billion. And ₱ 1 billion in savings from the PSC could be used to partially fund the construction of the BCDA, the GOCC that Clark and Subic developed, as well as Villamor Air Base and Fort Bonifacio.
The stadium was first used for the final match of the Philippine Athletics Association Weekly Relay which was held on September 1, 2019 and the aquatic center of the Philippine Open Swimming Championships which began on August 31, 2019.Both events were qualifying events for Filipino athletes intending to compete for their country in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.