Cicero 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 ...

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera (), is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region (Eritrea), Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the List of capital cities by altitude, sixth highest capital in the wo ...

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

. With a capacity of 10,000, it is currently used mostly for

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

matches.

History

The stadium was built in 1938 during the Italian occupation by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

businessman Francesco Cicero. It was later used by the '' GS Asmara'', the team winner of the first football championships in

with the Asmara-born Luciano Vassalo. The stadium hosted several matches during the

1968 African Cup of Nations The 1968 African Cup of Nations was the sixth edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa (Confederation of African Football, CAF). It was hosted by Ethiopia. The field expanded to eight teams, split into ...

. Today, Cicero Stadium is used by the

Eritrea national football team The Eritrea national football team represents Eritrea in men's international association football, football and it is controlled by the Eritrean National Football Federation (ENFF). It is nicknamed the ''Red Sea Boys''. It has never qualified ...

for its qualifying matches in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, CAN,

CECAFA Cup The CECAFA Cup, formerly the Gossage Cup (1926–1966) and the East and Central African Senior Challenge Cup (1967–1971), is the oldest football tournament in Africa. It is organized by the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associati ...

and COMESA Cup. Red Sea FC, Adulis Club, Hintsa FC and Edaga Hamus also play their club-level matches in the facility. In 2005, the stadium received an

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained wi ...

pitch, 3rd generation, One Star field test from

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 "Goal" development programme.

Notes

External links

Photos
a
cafe.daum.net/stade

StadiumDB profile

References

Cicero Stadium
{{Eritrea italiana (Colonia Primigenia) Football venues in Eritrea

Buildings and structures in Asmara Athletics (track and field) venues in Eritrea Multi-purpose stadiums in Africa Modernist architecture in Eritrea Italian Eritrea