Campo Mário Santiago is a football stadium in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

owned by football club

Progresso Associação do Sambizanga Progresso Associação do Sambizanga is an Angolan football club based in Luanda. The club was founded in 1975, as a result of a merger of three clubs: Juventude Unida do Bairro Alfredo (JUBA), Juventista and Vaza. Progresso do Sambizanga is no ...

. Located in the club's home neighborhood of

Sambizanga Sambizanga is one of the six urban districts that make up the municipality of Luanda, in the province of Luanda, Angola. Overview Sambizanga has a 14.5 km² area and about 244,000 inhabitants. Limited to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, ...

, the 8,000-seat stadium whose rehabilitation began in 1996 with private funding and stopped afterwards for lack of funding, resumed in 2016 under a sponsorship deal with the Fundação Eduardo dos Santos (FESA). The stadium's capacity is expected to be increased to 18,000 seats following the 18-month-long rehabilitation.

History

The area were the court is located was the home ground of two football clubs that closed down in the post-independence period: Académica do Ambrizete and Benfica do Quinzau. During the pro-communist rule that followed the country's independence in 1975, the area where the court is located was called Campo da Revolução (''Revolution Camp'') and was the venue of several firing-squad executions ordered by the

MPLA The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social dem ...

regime in 1975, the most famous of which was the shooting of MPLA commander Virgílio Sotto Mayor under the charge of treason. Following that ill-famed period, the field was renamed in honour of Angolan nationalist Mário Afonso Santiago (9 Sep 1942–13 Nov 1971), a local resident, ownership given to Progresso do Sambizanga and the construction work for the football stadium beginning afterwards.

References

Buildings and structures in Luanda

Mario Santiago Mario Santiago Figueroa (born July 13, 1978) is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. Santiago debuted as a professional in 2000, and is the current World Boxing Council Caribbean Featherweight Champion. Amateur career Santiago Figueroa star ...

Sport in Luanda {{Angola-sports-venue-stub