Miloud Hadefi Stadium (), is a multi-use

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 ...

in Belgaïd, in the

Bir El Djir Bir El Djir (), formerly known as , is a town and commune in the Oran Province, Algeria. It is an eastern suburb of Oran, the province's capital. In 2009, it had a population of 171,883 people. Toponymy The name of the town is thought to come f ...

suburb of

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. Completed in 2019, 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. It can hold 40,143 spectators. The value of construction work of the stadium was about 142.3 million

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

, it is an olympic stadium with the athletics track and it is a part of the ''Miloud Hadefi Olympic Complex'' which is the first big complex in Algeria exceeding the ''Mohamed Boudiaf Olympic Complex'' in

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

and it is also the first stadium entirely covered in Algeria. The stadium expected to be special for the

Algeria national football team The Algeria national football team () represents Algeria in men's international Association football, football, and is governed by the Algerian Football Federation. The team plays their home matches at the Stade du 5 Juillet, 5 July Stadium in ...

with

Stade du 5 Juillet The 5 July 1962 Stadium () (the name refers to 5 July 1962, the day Algeria declared independence), is a football and athletics stadium located in Algiers, Algeria. The stadium was inaugurated in 1972 with a capacity of 95,000. It served as th ...

and

Nelson Mandela Stadium Nelson Mandela Stadium () is a sports stadium located in Baraki, suburb of Algiers, Algeria. The value of construction work for the stadium cost around 300 million euros. With a seating capacity of 40,784, it will be the first association-footb ...

, and also clubs of Oran especially

MC Oran (), known as , commonly referred to as MC Oran for short, is an Algerian professional Association football, football club based in Oran. Founded on 1 January 1917, the club was known as Mouloudia Chaâbia Ouahrania from 1971 to 1977, Mouloudia P ...

. The Miloud Hadefi Stadium and all the complex which extends over a total area of 105 hectares, including all the infrastructure essential to the organization of international sports and football events. The stadium was used as the opening and closing ceremony venue of the

2022 Mediterranean Games The 2022 Mediterranean Games (), officially known as the XIX Mediterranean Games and commonly known as Oran 2022, was an international multi-sport event held from 25 June to 6 July 2022 in Oran, Algeria. Oran was announced as the host city at th ...

. The inaugural match of the stadium was held on 17 June 2021, when Algeria beat Liberia 5-1 in a friendly game.

Stadium

Characteristics

The stadium has been inspired by the San Nicola Stadium in

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

, built in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, which was designed by the Italian architect

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable works include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), Kansai International Airport in Osaka (1994), the Whitney ...

Construction

On 20 December 2006 planned the project of construction of the Olympic Complex. The stadium was planned for a capacity of 75,000 seats but was reduced to 40.000. On 5 December 2011 the minister of Youth and Sports, El Hachemi Djiar, announced that the stadium would be completed before the end of 2012. He also added that the entire project would be finished in 2015. But due to delays in construction work, the complex was finished in 2019.

Name of the stadium

In 2014, M.

Mohamed Raouraoua Mohamed Raouraoua (; born 12 September 1947 in Casbah, Algiers, French Algeria) is the former president of the Algerian Football Federation, and the vice-president of the Union of Arab Football Associations. Biography He was first elected as presi ...

president of the

Algerian Football Federation The Algerian Football Federation (AFF); () is the governing body of Association football, football in Algeria. Formed in 1962 and was based in the capital Algiers. It has jurisdiction on the Algerian football league system and is in charge of th ...

suggested that the stadium can take the name of the former legendary footballer of

and of the national team

Abdelkader Fréha Abdelkader Benfréha (; 28 October 1942 – 1 October 2012), known more commonly as Abdelkader Fréha, was an Algerian footballer who played nine times for the Algerian national team. He was nicknamed Béka or Head of gold. Honours Personnel ...

. Some other names were suggested like the other former legendary footballer

Miloud Hadefi Miloud Hadefi (; 12 March 1949 – 6 June 1994) was an Algerian football player and manager. Hedefi represented Algeria in two Football World Cup qualifying matches. His preferred position was libero. He was nicknamed The African Kaiser ...

. Finally he kept the name of Olympic Stadium of Oran but it's called Miloud Hadefi Stadium.

Name of the olympic complex

At the beginning of June 2022, the olympic complex was named ''Benhaddou Bouhadjar aka Colonel Othmane Olympic Complex''. But on 23 June 2022, the complex was inaugurated and renamed by President

Abdelmadjid Tebboune Abdelmadjid Tebboune (; born 17 November 1945) is an Algerian politician currently serving as the president of Algeria since December 2019 and as minister of defence. Tebboune took over the power from former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and f ...

in the name of the former international footballer and of

and therefore became the Miloud Hadefi Olympic Complex.

Handover and opening

Tenants and events

The Olympic Stadium hosted the some events : *

from 25 June till 5 July 2022. *

2022 African Nations Championship The 2022 African Nations Championship, known as the 2022 CHAN for short and the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes, was the 7th edition of the biennial association football tournament organ ...

from 16 January till 3 February 2022. * 2025 Arab Athletics Championships from 30 April till 4 May 2025.

Transport connections

The stadium is part of the Oran Olympic complex that is situated just 5 minutes away from several bus stations and the

Oran Tramway The Oran Tramway (in ) is a system of public transport in Oran (also transliterated as Wahrān), the second largest city in Algeria. The first section includes of track and 32 stops."Oran tramway opens for business, with more Algerian LRT to com ...

final destination stop that makes travelling to the stadium very easy from all regions of

Football matches

The stadium host national and international matches. It was inaugurated by a friendly international game between Algeria A' and

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

on 17 June 2021.