Champions Trophy 2025 Venue: Gaddafi Stadium Opening Ceremony Timing & Performers List in Lahore

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will hold a grand opening ceremony for Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Friday (February 7) following the venue's renovation and upgradation work ahead of the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025.

Gaddafi Stadium will be one of the three venues in Pakistan for the ICC event, scheduled to begin on February 19. But, before the eight-team tournament, Pakistan will host New Zealand and South Africa in a Tri-Series with two matches set to be played in the venue on Saturday (February 8) and Monday (February 10)

PCB on Thursday (February 6) announced that the renovation and upgradation work at Lahore's Gaddafi stadium has been completed in record time of 117 days and it is now ready to host international matches, including the ICC Champions Trophy.

The PCB said in a statement said that the new-look stadium now has better facilities, new floodlights, hospitality boxes, increased seating capacity, electronic scoreboards and top of the line LED towers.

"I am grateful to all those people who put in day and night of work to get the stadium ready on time despite the apprehensions and criticism," PCB Chief Mohsin Naqvi said.

It was reported recently that PCB was running behind by at least five weeks in completing the work. PCB is required to handover the stadiums to the ICC by February 12 as the tournament begins a week after.

"I am specially obligated to the nearly 1000 workers who made this dream possible," Naqvi said and promised a much better viewing experience for spectators with elevated seating and removal of the high fencing around the ground.

The new stadium will be put to the test on February 8 when Pakistan and New Zealand play the opening game of the tri-series, also involving South Africa. But before the first ball is bowled at the renewed venue, there will be an inauguration followed by opening ceremony.

Who will inaugurate the Gaddafi Stadium and who are the performers on show during the opening ceremony?

Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharif will officially inaugurate the stadium on Friday (February 7) during a ceremony, where notable artists such as Ali Zafar, Aima Baig, and Arif Lohar will perform live.

What time is the Gaddafi Stadium opening ceremony starting?

The Lahore venue's opening ceremony will start at 5:30 PM PKT (Local Time) | 6 PM IST on Friday, February 7 with performances from several artists expected to light up the venue. The entry for the opening ceremony is absolutley free as per PCB's post on social media.

The PCB will hold a similar inauguration ceremony of the National stadium in Karachi on February 11 with President Asif Zardari expected to grace the occasion. The tri-series action will shift to Karachi on February 12.