The Lagos National Stadium is a

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

Surulere, Lagos State Surulere is a local government area located on the mainland in Lagos State, Nigeria. It has an area of . At the 2006 census, there were 503,975 inhabitants, with a population density of 21,864 inhabitants per square kilometer. The local governm ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. It comprises an Olympic-size

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

arena and a multipurpose arena 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), competitio ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

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 (appro ...

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 ...

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

and

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

matches. It was used mostly for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

matches until 2004. It has hosted several international competitions, including the

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 its ...

final, 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 ...

final, and

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

qualifying matches. It also served as the main stadium for the

1973 All-Africa Games The 2nd All-Africa Games, also known as Lagos 1973, were played from 7 to 18 January 1973, in Lagos, Nigeria. After the success of the first African Games, the organizing bodies awarded the second games to Bamako, Mali to be held in 1969. A mili ...

History

When the stadium was built in 1972, it had a capacity of 55,000. The capacity was later reduced to 45,000 in 1999. The highest attendance, 85,000, was recorded in the final match of the

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

in 1980 between

and

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. Its 50-meter pool was closed in 1999. For unknown reasons, the National Stadium had been left in dilapidated state since the early 2000s until 2022 when the FG began renovation work at the stadium. It last hosted a national team game in 2004, with football matches moved to the nearby

Teslim Balogun Stadium The Teslim Balogun Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria. It is used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and serves as a home ground of First Bank FC. The Nigeria national rugby league team also uses the venue. ...

. It is now occasionally used for religious gatherings and has been taken over by

area boys Area boys (') are loosely organized gangs of street children, teenagers and youths, composed mostly of males, who operate on the streets of major cities in Nigeria, including Lagos, Ibadan, Onitsha, Aba, Umuahia, Akure, Ado-Ekiti and Enugu. ...

and

squatters Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

. In 2009, the National Sports Commission begun a concerted effort to bring the facility back to

world class ''World Class'' is the first studio album by American Los Angeles-based electro-hop group World Class Wreckin' Cru. It was released in 1985 under the Kru-Cut record label. Songs on the album included "Juice" and "Surgery", which were popular si ...

status.

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 its ...

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 tha ...

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 ...

Architecture

The National Stadium was designed by Fola Alade Associates in the year 1970. Construction and supervision took place between 1971 and 1973 by Fola Alade the architect who designed the stadium, before the All African games that happened in 197
you can find more details here
The stadium was used as the major sporting facility for the games.

Gallery

File:ASC Leiden - Rietveld Collection - Nigeria 1970 - 1973 - 01 - 090 Pan African Games Lagos January 7-18, 1973. Runners in the starting position on courts in the stadium - Lagos.jpg, Pan African Games Lagos January 7–18, 1973. Runners in the starting position on courts File:Swimming Pool In National Stadium Lagos.jpg, Swimming Pool In National Stadium Lagos

References

External links

Photos of Stadiums in Nigeria
a
cafe.daum.net/stade
a
fussballtempel.net
{{Nigeria national football team Sports venues completed in 1972 Football venues in Nigeria

Venues of the African Games Sport in Lagos Multi-purpose stadiums in Nigeria Sports venues in Lagos 20th-century architecture in Nigeria Surulere

History

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 its ...

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 tha ...

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 ...

See also

Architecture

Gallery

References

External links