Baba Yara Sports Stadium (also Kumasi Sports Stadium) is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...

, Ashanti. It is Ghana's largest stadium, with a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 40,528. The Kumasi Stadium is used mostly for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

matches, although it is also used for

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

. It is the home of one of Africa's most popular sports clubs, Asante Kotoko as well as King Faisal.

History

The stadium was originally built by the

United African Company The Royal Niger Company was a mercantile company chartered by the British government in the nineteenth century. It was formed in 1879 as the ''United African Company '' and renamed to ''National African Company'' in 1881 and to ''Royal Niger Co ...

(UAC) in 1957 and

inaugurated In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugu ...

as a designated football pitch in 1959. The first stands were constructed in 1971. The stadium was rebuilt in 1977. It was renamed after Kumasi-born footballer

Baba Yara Baba Yara (real name Osman Seidu) was a Ghanaian international football player. He was popularly known as the ''King of Wingers''. Early life Baba Yara was originally named Osman Seidu Maada, after his father, Seidu Maada, and his uncle, who w ...

(1936–1969, active for Asante Kotoko 1955–1961) under the New Patriotic government in 2004. The third major works ended in 2008. As part of the works, the west stand was demolished to be replaced by a two-tier stand with press, corporate, and VIP facilities. The rest of the stands were upgraded, seats were added, and transparent panels were installed to separate the spectator area from the playing area in order to prevent

pitch invasion A pitch invasion (known in North America as field storming or rushing the field) occurs when a person or a crowd of people spectating a sporting event run onto the competition area, usually to celebrate or protest an incident, or sometimes as ...

Tournaments

1978, 2000 and 2008 African Cup of Nations

The stadium hosted 6 group matches and one of the semi final matches of the 1978 African Cup of Nations tournament. During the

2000 African Cup of Nations The 2000 African Cup of Nations was the 22nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria, who jointly replaced Zimbabwe as host. Just like in 1998, the field ...

, the stadium hosted 7 matches. It was later used for the 2008 African Cup of Nations. The Baba Yara stadium also hosted th
Ghana and Nigeria match
in the first leg of their World Cup playoff match on Friday March 25, 2022.

References

External links

Kumasi Sports Stadiumworld stadiums.com
a
fussballtempel.net
{{Ghana Premier League venues Asante Kotoko S.C. Athletics (track and field) venues in Ghana Sports venues in Ghana Football venues in Ghana Multi-purpose stadiums in Ghana