2024-09-23 22:42:55
The nerve center of CAN 2024, the Alassane Ouattara Olympic Stadium in Ebimpé, the largest in Ivory Coast, hosted ten matches, including the opening match and ceremony, and the final that saw the victory of the national team , Erin. This huge infrastructure, whose construction cost 163 billion CFA francs (around 250 euros), has been looking for a second life since the end of the competition.
From our correspondent in Abidjan,
Since being welcomed by the Elephants, Ebimpé Stadium has become a tourist attraction and almost a pilgrimage site, with guided tours organized daily. A small group of about twenty guests accompanied Siaka Diarrassouba, a representative from the National Sports Agency. ” They like to see the lawn, locker rooms…”, he reported. A way to relive the emotions CAN 2024 for those who do not have the opportunity to go directly. ” We come to visit, we want to see what happens, really. I see what I see on TV, witness Eunice Lida, who was on an internship outside the Ivory Coast at the beginning of the year. You are living, it is good. It is large and well maintained. »
Create activities that go beyond entertainment
This treatment costs: up to half a billion CFA francs per year. But despite the ground area of 60 hectares and its capacity of 60,000 seats, the stadium has not hosted a major sporting event since February. ” In the immediate future, we try to bring it to life with community services, know its director Séraphin Douéhi. With our marketing department, we work to provide as much information as possible so that citizens know that we can organize, beyond football and sports, other cultural activities here. If we want to limit ourselves to sports, it is not clear that the stadium can really live. And so, we must create related services, whether it is a mall, a hotel, a pool… All this will make the infrastructure more attractive, and that is what we are working on. »
Olympic city project
Because the stadium is at the heart of a huge project: the Olympic city of 280 hectares, the construction of which the authorities hope to start at the beginning of 2025. The first work will be financed by the National Sports Agency, but the stadium developments should ultimately be based on a partnership between the public and the private sector. ” It is a city that will consider the infrastructure of all sports processes, if tomorrow, the Ivory Coast is a candidate for the organization of the Olympic Games, it can be a center for bringing together athletes, as a seen in Paris. The games. Accommodation, food, training center. »
Séraphin Douéhi aims to establish a “South-South partnership”, to allow teams from African countries without approved infrastructure to play at the Ebimpé stadium. In October, it will host the teams of Burundi and Burkina Faso for the renewals of the CAN 2025.
#Ivory #Coast #Ebimpé #stadium #life