Fact check: Is Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium the largest in the world?

Nothing in India is ever free of controversies. Now with the 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup in the country just days away, a new controversy has cropped up surrounding the newly built Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela, Odisha.

It all started when the Chief Minister of Odisha - Naveen Patnaik of of BJD, said that the FIH has certified the Birsa Munda Stadium as the "largest hockey stadium in the world", during its inauguration.

This soon became a point of contention to score political points for other parties in India, with a MLA from the country's ruling BJP - Shankar Oram, lashing out at Patnaik for the claim.

Oram claimed that Pakistan's National Hockey Stadium with a capacity of 45,000 is the largest in the world. He even went on to state that the Birsa Munda Stadium is not even the largest in India with the Chandigarh Hockey Stadium having a capacity of 30,000.

The MLA from Sundergarh's Biramitrapur alleged that the Rourkela facility is the fourth largest in the world behind USA's Weingart Stadium, which has a capacity of 22,355.

So then, who is correct - the BJD or the BJP?

Is Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium not really the largest in the world?

Well, the answer to this question is both - Yes and No.

As pointed out by Shankar Oram, the Birsa Munda Stadium is certainly the fourth largest stadium in the world with a capacity of 20,000.

But Naveen Patnaik and the Odisha government, in their stance, are not wrong either.

The Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium is certainly the world's largest by "seating capacity".

Though the National Hockey Stadium, Chandigarh Hockey Stadium, and the Weingart Stadium can house more fans than the stadium in Odisha, none of the three have a seating capacity of 20,000.

Thus, the newly built Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium is the largest hockey stadium by seating capacity in the world.