The El Hadj Hassan Gouled Aptidon 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 ...

Djibouti City Djibouti (also called Djibouti City and Jibuti in early Western texts) is the capital city of the Djibouti, Republic of Djibouti. It is located in the coastal Djibouti Region on the Gulf of Tadjoura. Djibouti has a population of around 780,000 ...

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

. It is currently reserved 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. The stadium has a capacity of hosting up to 20,000http://www.udj-djibouti.com/dji/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1464:djibouti&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=27 fans. As of April 2007, the Stade has 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 courtesy of

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'' development programme. It is currently the home ground of the

Djibouti national football team The Djibouti national football team, nicknamed the "Riverains de la Mer Rouge" (), is the national football team of Djibouti. It is controlled by the Djiboutian Football Federation and is a member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) ...

. The stadium is home to many sports federations in Djibouti, including the

Djiboutian Football Federation The Djiboutian Football Federation (; ; FDF) is the governing body of association football in Djibouti. It was founded in 1979, and affiliated to FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in 1994, and has been a member of the Union of ...

History

The stadium opened on June 26, 1993. It is named after the first President of Djibouti,

Hassan Gouled Aptidon Hassan Gouled Aptidon (; ; October 15, 1916 – November 21, 2006) was the first President of Djibouti from 1977 to 1999. Biography He was born in the small village of Gerisa in the Lughaya district in British Somaliland. He was born into the ...

. The facility was built with the assistance of Chinese engineers. The stadium has also benefited from the Goal program established by

. Renovation work at the stadium commenced in 2002. In 2007, new

was installed for a second time.

Infrastructures

The stadium includes an eight-lane

running track An all-weather running track is a rubberized, artificial running surface for track and field athletics. It provides a consistent surface for competitors to test their athletic ability unencumbered by adverse weather conditions. Historically, v ...

and artificial turf. It has two stands, one covered, which can accommodate 10,000 spectators. The complex also has three rooms for the practice of

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

and

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

Competitions

The stadium has previously hosted matches for the

, the Djibouti championship,

Djibouti Cup The Djibouti Cup is the premier professional association football tournament in Djibouti. Winners *1988: AS Port 0(4)–0(3) ACPM (aet) *1989: AS Port 4–2 Chemin de Fer Djibouto–Ethiopien *1990: AS Port *1991: AS Aéroport 2–1 AS Port ...

, and Djibouti Super Cup as well as athletics competitions. On April 7, 2000, the first official international match was played in the stadium featuring

and the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

during

2002 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South Americ ...

, a 1–1 draw in front of 2,700 spectators. In athletics, it is the place of departure and arrival of the international semi-marathon of Djibouti which takes place annually in March.

References

External links

Photos
a
cafe.daum.net/stadePhoto
a
worldstadiums.com
Football venues in Djibouti Athletics (track and field) venues in Djibouti Buildings and structures in Djibouti City

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