The Obafemi Awolowo Stadium located at Liberty road, Ring Road in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, originally known as Liberty Stadium until 2010 is a football stadium with a capacity of 25,000 seats.

History

Construction

The stadium was opened in 1960 during the tenure of Chief

Obafemi Awolowo Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo (; 6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987) was a Yoruba nationalist and Nigerian statesman who played a key role in Nigeria's independence movement (1957-1960). Awolowo founded the Yoruba nationalist group Egbe Om ...

who was serving as the Premier of the Western Region at the time. It was named Liberty Stadium in honor of Nigeria's independence. Constructed by direct labour under the supervision of the regional Ministry of Works and Transport, the stadium was the central location of sports in the old Western region of Nigeria. It was sited at the Southern end of Ibadan in 1960 near the summit of a hill, and located close to a bypass that leads to the Ibadan-Abeokuta and Ibadan-Lagos roads. The stadium, at inception, aside football pitch in the main bowl with floodlights, also boasted the indoor sports halls, swimming pool, courts for tennis, volleyball, handball, basketball, hockey, etc.

Boxing

On August 10, 1963 the stadium hosted the first ever

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

world title fight in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. The match was initially slated for July 13, 1963. This was for the Middleweight Championship of the World belt and was fought between Nigeria's own

Dick Tiger Dick Tiger (born Richard Ihetu; August 14, 1929 – December 14, 1971) was a Nigerian-born professional boxer who held the undisputed middleweight and light-heavyweight championships. Tiger emigrated to Liverpool, England to pursue his b ...

and

Gene Fullmer Lawrence Gene Fullmer (July 21, 1931 – April 27, 2015) was an American professional boxer and World Middleweight champion. Professional career Fullmer began his professional career in 1951 and won his first 29 fights, 19 by knockout. His mana ...

of the US.

African Cup of Nations

In 1980, the stadium hosted several matches during the

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

, including a semi-final between

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and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

FIFA World Youth Championship

In 1999, the Liberty Stadium was selected along with eight other stadiums in Nigeria to host the

1999 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Nigeria between 3 and 24 April 1999. This was the 12th edition of the tournament. Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. :1.Teams that ...

. The stadium hosted all of the Group C matches, one of the Round of 16 matches, and one of the quarter-final matches.

Renaming

On November 12, 2010, the stadium was renamed as the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium. The renaming of the stadium was announced by the then Nigerian president, Dr.

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

, when he visited Chief Obafemi Awolowo's widow, Chief (Mrs.)

Hannah Awolowo Chief Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo (; 25 November 1915 – 19 September 2015), popularly known as HID, was a Nigerian businesswoman and politician. Biography Born to a modest family in the small Ikenne community of Ogun State in Nigeria, she a ...

Notable football events

1980 African Cup of Nations The 1980 African Cup of Nations was the 12th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Nigeria. Just like in 1978, the field of eight teams was split into two groups of four. Nigeria won ...

1999 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Nigeria between 3 and 24 April 1999. This was the 12th edition of the tournament. Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. :1.Teams that ...

References

External links

World Stadiums: Liberty Stadium (Ibadan)
{{Nigeria-sports-venue-stub Football venues in Nigeria Buildings and structures in Ibadan Sport venues in Ibadan