Mandela National Stadium

For the stadium located in Algeria, see Nelson Mandela Stadium. For the stadium in South Africa, see Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Mandela National Stadium
Namboole Stadium
Fans leaving Mandela National Stadium in 2019
Mandela National Stadium is located in Uganda
Mandela National Stadium
Mandela National Stadium
Location within Uganda
Full nameMandela National Stadium
Former namesNamboole National Stadium (1997–2013)
LocationBweyogerere
Kira Municipality
Central Region
Uganda
Coordinates00°20′52″N 32°39′33″E / 0.34778°N 32.65917°E / 0.34778; 32.65917[1]
Capacity38,000[2]
Record attendance50,000 (Uganda vs. South Africa, 10 October 2004)
SurfaceGrass
Construction
Opened1997[3]
Renovated2010–11, 2022–2024
Construction costUS$36 Million[3]
Main contractorsChinese construction company
Tenants
Uganda national football team (1997–present)
SC Villa (2024–present)
Website
Homepage

The Mandela National Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Uganda. It is named after the former South African President and anti-apartheid icon, Nelson Mandela.[4] The stadium's record attendance of 50,000 was set in 2004, in a football match between the national football teams of Uganda and South Africa.[5]

Location

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The stadium is located on Namboole Hill in Kira Municipality, Wakiso District. The stadium is approximately 11 kilometres (7 mi), by road, east of the central business district of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city.[6]

Overview

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Mandela National Stadium is mainly used for soccer matches, although other sports such as athletics are also practised. The stadium has a capacity of 45,202 by 2016 before renovation.[3] After renovation in May 2024 which involved putting permanent seats, the capacity decreased to 38,000.[7] The stadium is home to the Uganda national football team, known as the Uganda Cranes.[8]

The stadium was built with a grant of US$36 million from the People's Republic of China (PRC). Originally it was called Namboole Stadium, getting its name from the hill on which it was built. It is now officially called Mandela National Stadium, named after the former South African president, Nelson Mandela. It was opened in 1997 with a concert by Lucky Dube, a reggae artist from South Africa.[3]

Uganda fan inside the stadium

The stadium was refurbished in 2010–11, with a US$2.8 million grant from the PRC.[9]

A committee of the Ugandan parliament reported in 2015 that the stadium was on the verge of financial collapse, claiming that the stadium had suffered from more than a decade of "mismanagement and wanton abuse" and incurred losses totaling UGX:3.6 billion.[10] Running the stadium profitably in a private-public partnership arrangement remains a challenge.[11]

Namboole Stadium was closed for renovation in 2019 after the outbreak of COVID-19 since it did not reach the minimum standards fo CAF to host games.[12] Then 2020, the stadium was blacklisted from hosting football matches due to a substandard state.[13] The reconstruction works, taken by the UPDF Engineering Brigade, have started in 2022, including the installation of a permanent seats in the stadium, new dressing rooms, scoreboard, as well as refreshing the floodlights and the pitch.[13] The renovation of between 2019 and 2024 costed 97 billion Uganda Shillings.[14] After its renovation, the Federation Of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) organized test matches from the Uganda premier League to serve as test events of the stadium before the official opening. The games were played on 1 May 2024 where BUL Fc hosted Vipers Sc, and KCCA FC hosted SC Villa which served as a requirement for the Confederation Of African Football (CAF) to grant the stadium permission to host International Games. A month later, Uganda Cranes returned at Namboole hosting Botswana in the World Cup qualifiers and Algeria a week after.[15]

At the start of 2024–25 Uganda Premier League Season, SC Villa registered for Namboole to serve as their home ground.[16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Location of Mandela National Stadium, Uganda" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  2. ^ https://mandelastadium.co.ug/stadium/about
  3. ^ a b c d Stadiumdb.com (26 October 2016). "Nelson Mandela National Stadium (Namboole)". Stadiumdb.com. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  4. ^ Bakama, James (7 December 2013). "Ugandan sports will miss Mandela". New Vision. Kampala. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  5. ^ "Uganda national football team statistics and records: Attendances".
  6. ^ "Distance between Kampala Road, Kampala, Uganda and Mandela National Stadium, Kampala, Central Region, Uganda" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  7. ^ https://mandelastadium.co.ug/stadium/about
  8. ^ "Pictorial: The Historical Day At Namboole As Uganda Cranes Qualified For AFCON 2017 In Gabon". The Red Pepper Newspaper. Mukono. 5 September 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  9. ^ Bakama, James (1 August 2010). "Mandela stadium facelift commences". New Vision. Kampala. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  10. ^ Mwesigwa, Alon (27 May 2015). "Mandela Stadium at the edge of collapse". The Observer (Uganda). Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  11. ^ Igasira, Neville (1 December 2013). "The woes of running a multi-sports stadium". East African Business Week. Kampala. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  12. ^ Muyita, Joel (24 April 2024). "FUFA confirms Uganda Premier League games to be used in soft opening of Mandela National Stadium". Kawowo Sports. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  13. ^ a b "Namboole stadium to be ready by June – UPDF Engineering Brigade". The Independent. 21 January 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  14. ^ "Mandela National Stadium Test: Government invests UGX 97 billion in renovation". NTV Uganda. 2 May 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  15. ^ "Namboole Stadium to host two test matches next month". ChimpReports. 24 April 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  16. ^ Kiyonga, Ismael (15 July 2024). "Two UPL giants register Nakivubo as new home". Kawowo Sports. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
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