The sports speaker of 50,000 places is located about thirty kilometers east of Dakar, in the new Diamniadio city.
Le Monde with AFP
Senegal, winner of the last African Cup of Nations (CAN) and first in the FIFA ranking on the continent, now has a stage to international standards, inaugurated Tuesday, February 22 in the lifelia in Diamniadio, the new city. Thirty kilometers from Dakar. Thousands of Senegalese moved by bus or train to rally the 50,000-seat stage, which received the name of the former President of the country Abdoulaye Wade.
The choice of the name of the former head of state is a “tribute to his multidimensional, intellectual, pan-Africanist, politician and former president of Senegal”, “said the current Senegalese President Macky Sall during the inauguration ceremony. “This beautiful infrastructure dedicated to youth is a prompt to continue our way to excellence,” said Sall.
The enclosure is the only approved by international bodies, the African Football Confederation (CAF) withdrawn its registration at the Lat Dior stadium in the region of Thiès (70 kilometers from Dakar) in May 2021.
“It’s a pride to have such a beautiful stadium in Senegal. The country needed that to restore the image of his football,” said AFP Bamba Dieng, 24, one, one spectators. “I have never seen such a beautiful stadium. I hope it will be well maintained for a long time,” said Ibou Ngom, 29 years old.
“hub sportsman “
This new stadium was built in a year and a half by a Turkish company for a cost of 156 billion CFA francs (about 238 million euros). This is the second largest sports building in the country after the 60,000-seater Leopold-Sedar-Senghor stage built in 1985 in Dakar.
“It was necessary for what football represents in Senegal, for all that Senegal has great players, a stadium at the dimension of this team,” analyzed El Hadj Thierno Dramé, sports journalist.
The new construction is part of a dynamic to make Dakar “a sports hub” to prevent games from being relocated to Asia, said Mbaye Jacques Diop, Communication Advisor from the Ministry of Sports. The stadium has a solar power station with a power of 2 megawatts, which makes it “almost autonomous into electricity”, says Mr Sall.
The abdoulaye Wade stadium, initially baptized by Senegal, was officially inaugurated by President Macky Sall, in the presence of several Heads of States, including Turkish Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Rwandan Paul Kagame, or the President of the President. Liberia and former Footballer International George Weah. The President of FIFA Gianni Infantino was also among many other personalities.
A game of Gala had to oppose captions of Senegalese football such as Aliou Cissé, current coach of the national team, to legends of African football like Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o and Ivorian Didier Drogba.
The stadium will welcome its first great meeting on March 29th. Senegal, who beat Egypt in the Final of the CAN, will receive the Pharaohs in a return match spot for the 2022 World Cup dams. Senegal is in a phase of rehabilitation of its stages. The country is the host of the Youth Olympic Games that will stand in 2026.