The Eng. Yariisow Stadium, formerly known as Garoonka Banaadir Stadium, or simply Benadir Stadium in the

Somali language Somali is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Somalis, Somali people, native to Greater Somalia. It is an official language in Somalia, Somaliland, and Ethio ...

, is a multi-use 20,000-capacity

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 completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

Mogadishu Mogadishu, 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 connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...

Banaadir Banaadir (, , ) is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in southeastern Somalia. It covers the same area as the city of Mogadishu, which serves as the capital. It is the only region in the country not belonging to any of the six states. It is b ...

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

, that is currently 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 the 1970s, the stadium was called the ''Coni Stadium'' because it was built by the Italian Coni. It is currently being rebuilt through

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

's Win in Africa with Africa program.

History

Originally in the area there was the small ''Stadio Municipale di Mogadiscio'' as the main sport area in the capital of

Italian Somalia Italian Somaliland (; ; ) was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia, which was ruled in the 19th century by the Sultanate of Hobyo and the Majeerteen Sultanate in the north, and by the Hiraab Imamate an ...

; it was created in the late 1930s just north of the Porto di Mogadiscio and hosted the first football matches in Mogadishu. On the enlarged grounds of this "Campo Sportivo" in the 1950s, the first football stadium in Somalia was built during the Fiduciary Administration of Somalia done by Italy under ONU mandate, the ''Coni Stadium'', later renamed "Banadir Stadium" in the early 1960s. The stadium was a donation of the Italian government to the Somali people and was built in 1956 by the

Italian National Olympic Committee The Italian National Olympic Committee (, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in ItalyWithin Italy, CONI recognizes 48 national ...

. It was inaugurated in October 1956 and was one of the best in Africa when inaugurated, with competitions held in athletics and even

bicycle racing Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...

. The Coni Stadium when inaugurated had an area of 23,300 square meters, with athletics tracks of 200 meters and a covered tribune for 1000 spectators seated. The original real-grass turf was changed to artificial in the late 1990s, after the civil war damages to the stadium. The Banadir stadium was fully destroyed during the

Somali Civil War The Somali Civil War (; ) is an List of ongoing armed conflicts, ongoing civil war that is taking place in Somalia. It grew out of resistance to the military junta which was led by Siad Barre during the 1980s. From 1988 to 1990, the Somali Armed ...

in the 1990s and early 2000s. Later, it was rebuilt by

's Win in Africa with Africa program in the late 2000s and since 2009, it has again hosted football games. As of 2010, the stadium is the home field for the following teams: * Jeenyo United F.C. (formerly ''Lavori Pubblici'') * Savaana * Somali Police FC (Heegan) * Gaadiidka * Dekedda FC In August 2019, it was renamed after Abdirahman Omar Osman, known as "Engineer Yarisow", the former mayor of Mogadishu and governor of the Banaadir region, who died in an explosive attack in his office.

Capacity and facilities

The Banadir Stadium has been recently improved to a possible capacity of 20,000 spectators. It features a tournament ground, as well as grounds for

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

and

References

External links

Photos
a
cafe.daum.net/stade
{{Somalia italiana (Colonia) Football venues in Somalia Athletics (track and field) venues in Somalia Sports venues in Somalia

Football venues in Mogadishu

History

Capacity and facilities

See also

References

External links