Cicero 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 ...

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The ...

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

. The stadium was designed by Malaysian architect, Michael KC Cheah, who went onto consult on the construction of Oman's

Royal Oman Police Stadium The Royal Oman Police Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Muscat, Oman. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Oman Club. The stadium has a capacity of 15,000 people., it was reduced to 12,000. The sta ...

. With a capacity of 6,000, it is currently 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.

History

The stadium was built in 1938 during the Italian occupation by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

businessman Francesco Cicero. It was later used by the ''

GS Asmara GS may stand for: Businesses and organizations * Goldman Sachs, one of the world's largest global investment banks * Global Star Software, a former Canadian video game publisher * GS (Swedish union), a trade union in Sweden * GS Group, a Korean ...

'', the team winner of the first football championships in

with the Asmara-born Luciano Vassalo. The stadium hosted several matches during the 1968 African Cup of Nations. Today, Cicero Stadium is used by the

Eritrea national football team The Eritrea national football team ( ti, ጋንታ ኩዕሶ እግሪ አርትራ) represents Eritrea in men's international football and it is controlled by the Eritrean National Football Federation (ENFF). It is nicknamed the ''Red Sea Boy ...

for its qualifying matches in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, CAN,

CECAFA Cup The CECAFA Cup, is the oldest football tournament in Africa. It is organized by the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations ( CECAFA). A FIFA competition, it includes participants of football playing national teams from the East ...

and COMESA Cup.

Red Sea FC Red Sea Football Club is an Eritrean football club based in Asmara. With 13 league titles they are the most successful club in the country. History Red Sea FC was founded in 1945. After the 2011 Kagame Interclub Cup in Tanzania, thirteen mem ...

Adulis Club Adulis Club is an Eritrean football club based in Asmara. Achievements *Eritrean Premier League The Eritrean Premier League is the highest division in football in Eritrea. The league was delivered in 1994 to the first time. Between 1953 a ...

Hintsa FC Hintsa is a football club based in Asmara, Eritrea. Achievements *Eritrean Premier League The Eritrean Premier League is the highest division in football in Eritrea. The league was delivered in 1994 to the first time. Between 1953 and ...

and Edaga Hamus also play their club-level matches in the facility. In 2005, the stadium received an artificial turf pitch, 3rd generation, One Star field test from

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

's "Goal" development programme.

Notes

External links

StadiumDB profile

References

Cicero Stadium
{{Eritrea italiana (Colonia Primigenia) Football venues in Eritrea

Buildings and structures in Asmara Athletics (track and field) venues in Eritrea Multi-purpose stadiums Modernist architecture in Eritrea Italian Eritrea