Following a major renovation for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and as part of Morocco’s preparations to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, the Tangier Grand Stadium – or Stade Ibn Battouta – now has a capacity of approximately 75,500 and a new RCF sound system.
RCF supplied the system to the stadium – one of Morocco’s landmark football venues – which comprises more than 350 loudspeakers and 55 DSP power amplifiers for total continuous power exceeding 800kW.
‘The assignment began through a competitive tender process managed by ANEP, the National Agency for Public Facilities.’ says Rachid Mediouni, Chairman of Encom, a major player in A/V, SSI and IT in Morocco, and the official RCF and TT+ Audio distributor for the country.
‘Performance targets defined in the tender specifications included a continuous sound pressure level on seating positions of 100dB(A) and a peak level of 105dB(A), along with speech intelligibility objectives.’
The installed system comprises 16 main flown arrays, each comprising 12 TT+ Audio GTX 10i IP modules, deployed under the roof canopy at 45m from pitch level. Each array is paired with two HL 38-S VFB 18-inch subwoofers in end-fire configuration, for a total of 32 subwoofers. Under-balcony seating and lower-tier areas are covered by 96 P 4228 and 36 Compact C 45 WP loudspeakers.
Power and processing are provided by 55 XPS 16KD four-channel 96kHz DSP amplifiers, each rated at 16kW. The loudspeakers are supported by dedicated presets and further optimised with specific equalisation tailored to the stadium’s acoustics. All amplifiers are connected and managed via RDNet on a data VLAN, and receive audio via Dante on two redundant Dante VLANs.
‘The stadium’s long-span roof canopy is similar to the one in Maracana’s Rio de JaneiroIts narrow under-canopy catwalk creates significant rigging and access constraints, requiring a solution adapted to fixed structural attachment points and a compressed delivery timeline,’ Mediouni continues. ‘Our colleagues from the RCF Engineering Support Group provided system design and commissioning support, including acoustic verification using calibrated instrumentation and IEC-aligned speech intelligibility methods.’
‘Providing world-class sound reinforcement at the Grand Stade de Tanger was a significant challenge due to the complex architectural design,’ Francesco Venturi of the RCF Engineering Support Group explains. ‘From the outset, the focus was on achieving optimal intelligibility and uniform coverage, with performance metrics strictly adhering to the requirements of both FIFA and the Confederation of African Football. Testing confirmed the system’s exceptional performance, with sound pressure levels in the stadium bowl exceeding the requirements, reaching over 104dB(A) Leq under test stimuli.’
Encom credits its project team – including Abdelouafi El Allali (Technical Manager), Mohamed Ouabi (Project Manager) and Abdelali Nahil (Sound Engineer) – for delivering the system and providing handover training to the stadium’s technical staff.
‘Professionals visiting from other venues have been impressed by the clarity, and the first events confirmed the system’s impact,’ Mediouni reports. ‘This project sets a new reference for stadium sound in Morocco.’
More: www.rcf.it/en