The Siaka Stevens National Stadium, commonly known informally as the National Stadium, is the

national stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

, located in the capital city of

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

. It is 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 and it also has athletics facilities. It is the largest and main stadium in Sierra Leone and has a capacity of 45,000. The stadium serves as the exclusive home of the

Sierra Leone national football team The Sierra Leone national football team represents Sierra Leone in association football and is governed by the Sierra Leone Football Association. It has qualified for Africa Cup of Nations three times. History Sierra Leone's first match was at ...

, known as the

Leone Stars The Sierra Leone national football team represents Sierra Leone in association football and is governed by the Sierra Leone Football Association. It has qualified for Africa Cup of Nations three times. History Sierra Leone's first match was at ...

. Several professional Sierra Leonean football clubs in the

Sierra Leone National Premier League Sierra Leone National Premier League is a professional football league in Sierra Leone. It was founded in 1967. The league is sponsored by Leone Rock Metal Group. East End Lions and Mighty Blackpool are the two biggest and most successful clubs ...

play their home games at the stadium. The stadium is also occasionally used as a venue for social, cultural, religious, political, and musical entertainment. the inauguration of a newly elected

President of Sierra Leone The president of the Republic of Sierra Leone is the head of state and the head of government of Sierra Leone, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. As the head of the executive branch of the Sierra Leone government, the pre ...

is usually held at the stadium. The Siaka Stevens Stadium is owned by the

Government of Sierra Leone The government of Sierra Leone is the governing authority of the Republic of Sierra Leone, as established by the Sierra Leone Constitution. The Sierra Leone government is divided into three branches: the executive, legislative and the judiciary. T ...

, and is operated, run and managed by the Sierra Leone Ministry of Sports, which is technically a part of the Sierra Leone Government. The stadium is named after Sierra Leone's first president

Siaka Stevens Siaka Probyn Stevens (24 August 1905 – 29 May 1988) was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1985, serving as Prime Minister from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was often characterized by patrimonial ...

, who signed and approved the

budget A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...

for the construction of the stadium in 1979.

History

Completed on 18 April 1979 by the Chinese as the Siaka Stevens Stadium (named after

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

), the stadium's name was changed in 1992 when a coup was launched by a group of young military officers which established themselves as the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). In 2008, fans called for the change of the name back to Siaka Stevens Stadium, citing a lack of sporting success since the change. The previous stadium that was there was called Reckrie Stadium. It was completely demolished in the late 70s to make way for the present stadium.official invitation to the opening.

References

Buildings and structures in Freetown Sports venues completed in 1980 Multi-purpose stadiums in Sierra Leone

History

References

External links