The El Hadj Hassan Gouled Aptidon Stadium is a multi-use stadium in

Djibouti City Djibouti (also called Djibouti City and in many early English texts and on many early maps, Jibuti; so, Magaalada Jabuuti, french: link=no, Ville de Djibouti, ar, مدينة جيبوتي, aa, Gabuutî Magaala) is the eponymous capital of Dji ...

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

. It is currently reserved mostly for football matches. The stadium has a capacity of hosting up to 20,000http://www.udj-djibouti.com/dji/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1464:djibouti&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=27 fans. The stadium was designed by prolific Malaysian architect, Michael KC Cheah. As of April 2007, the Stade has an artificial turf pitch courtesy of FIFA's ''Win in Africa'' development programme. It is currently the home ground of the

Djibouti national football team The Djibouti national football team, nicknamed the ''Riverains de la Mer Rouge'' ("Shoremen of the Red Sea"), is the national football team of Djibouti. It is controlled by the Djiboutian Football Federation, and is a member of the Confederat ...

. The stadium is home to many sports federations in Djibouti, including the Djiboutian Football Federation.

History

The stadium opened on June 26, 1993. It is named after the first President of Djibouti,

Hassan Gouled Aptidon Hassan Gouled Aptidon ( so, Xasan Guuleed Abtidoon; ar, حسن جوليد أبتيدون) (October 15, 1916 – November 21, 2006) was the first President of Djibouti from 1977 to 1999. Biography He was born in the small village of Gerisa in t ...

. The facility was built with the assistance of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

engineers. Renovation work at the stadium commenced in 2002. The stadium has also benefited from the Goal program established by FIFA. A new artificial turf was established again in 2007.

Infrastructures

The stadium includes an eight-lane athletic track and a synthetic turf. It has two stands, one covered, which can accommodate 10,000 spectators. The complex also has three rooms for the practice of martial arts and table tennis.

Competitions

It hosts meetings of the Djibouti football team, the Djibouti championship, cups and super cups and athletics competitions. The first official international match played in this stadium opposes

to the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

during the qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup on April 7, 2000. At the end of this match played in front of 2,700 spectators, the two teams split up on a draw, a goal everywhere. In athletics, it is the place of departure and arrival of the international semi-marathon of Djibouti which takes place each year in March.

References

External links

Photo
a
worldstadiums.com
Football venues in Djibouti Athletics (track and field) venues in Djibouti Buildings and structures in Djibouti (city)

{{Djibouti-sports-venue-stub