Mogadishu Stadium ( Somali: Garoonka Muqdisho) is a

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...

, Somalia. The stadium has been completely rebuilt and artificial turf was laid on 27 March 2020.

History

The facility was constructed in 1977 during the

Siad Barre Mohamed Siad Barre ( so, Maxamed Siyaad Barre, Osmanya script: ; ar, محمد سياد بري; c. 1910 – 2 January 1995) was a Somali head of state and general who served as the 3rd president of the Somali Democratic Republic from 1969 to 199 ...

administration, with the assistance of Chinese engineers. Although Mogadishu Stadium was mainly used for hosting sporting activities, presidential addresses and political rallies were also held there.''Daily report: People's Republic of China'', Issues 53-61, (National Technical Information Service: 1986) In 1987, the popular singer

Magool Magool ( so, Xaliimo Khaliif Cumar, (May 2, 1948 – March 19, 2004), born Halima Khaliif Omar, was a Somali singer. Early years Magool was born in the city of Dhuusamareeb the capital of the Galgaduud region in central Somalia to Cayr, Hawiye ...

staged the famous "Mogadishu and Magool" concert at basketball hall (adjacent to football stadium) which is part of this wide sports facility/village. It was among the largest such musical events held at the time, with thousands of people in attendance. Following the start of the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

in the early 1990s, the stadium was used as a base by various armed factions. A few football matches were from that period intermittently staged, but the facility remained under the control of militants. In 2006,

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 ...

financed the installation of a new

artificial pitch Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commerc ...

at the Mogadishu Stadium. However, the venue along with other local facilities gradually incurred infrastructural damage. When the Al-Shabaab insurgent group laid siege to much of Mogadishu and other southern areas in 2008, it prohibited sporting activities. In August 2011, during the 2010's Battle of Mogadishu, the

Somali National Army The Somali National Army ( Somali: ''Xooga Dalka Soomaaliyeed,'' lit. ''"Somali Ground Forces"'') is the ground forces component of the Somali Armed Forces, and is the largest out of the three service branches that make up the majority of the A ...

(SNA) backed by

AMISOM The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) was a regional peacekeeping mission operated by the African Union with the approval of the United Nations Security Council. It was mandated to support transitional governmental structures, implem ...

troops recaptured the capital and stadium from the militants. In 2013, the newly established

Federal Government of Somalia The Government of Somalia (GS) ( so, Dowladda Soomaaliya, ar, حكومة الصومال الاتحادية) is the internationally recognised government of Somalia, and the first attempt to create a central government in Somalia since the Somal ...

began renovating the stadium in conjunction with Chinese officials. By 2015, the artificial turf had been refurbished. The stadium also began again serving as one of the main sporting venues in the capital for

Somali League The Somali First Division ( so, Heerka Koowaad ee Soomaali), Somali League, or Somali Premier League, is the Somali professional league for men's association football. It has been active for over 50 years, having been established in 1967. Somalia ...

football matches.

Renovations

In September 2013, the Somali federal government and its Chinese counterpart signed an official bilateral cooperation agreement in Mogadishu as part of a five-year national recovery plan in Somalia. Under the terms of the accord, the Chinese authorities were slated to reconstruct several major infrastructural landmarks in the Somali capital and elsewhere, including the Mogadishu Stadium..The renovation was completed in 2020 and it hosted the sixtieth anniversary of independence on 1st of July 2020.

Capacity and facilities

Mogadishu Stadium has a capacity of 65,000 spectators. It features a tournament ground, as well as grounds for

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

Notes

References

*''Daily report: People's Republic of China'', Issues 53-61, (National Technical Information Service: 1986) *{{cite web, last=National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, title=Mogadishu - Coordinates, url=http://geographic.org/geographic_names/name.php?uni=-4571503&fid=5782&c=somalia, publisher=Geographic.org, accessdate=19 October 2012 Football venues in Somalia Athletics (track and field) venues in Somalia

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

Football venues in Mogadishu

History

Renovations

Capacity and facilities

See also

Notes

References