Stadiums in Somalia: Mogadishu Stadium, Banadir (Eng. Yariisow) and others

Banadir Stadium (Eng. Yariisow Stadium)

The first football ground in Mogadishu was the small Stadio Municipale, built in the late 1930s north of the port. On enlarged grounds there, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) built the Coni Stadium as a gift from the Italian government, during the UN trusteeship. It opened in October 1956 with 1,000 covered seats and a 200-metre track, and hosted athletics and cycling as well as football. It was renamed Banadir Stadium in the early 1960s (Banadir Stadium, Wikipedia). Abdullahi Hussein Baskuwaale, who played in the first Somali team there, recalled it as one of the finest football grounds in Africa in the late 1950s.

The stadium was destroyed in the civil war. FIFA's "Win in Africa with Africa" programme rebuilt it with artificial turf, and football returned in 2009. In 2010 it was home to Jeenyo United, Savaana, Heegan, Gaadiidka and Dekedda (Wikipedia; WardheerNews). In August 2019 it was renamed after Mogadishu's mayor Abdirahman Omar Osman "Eng. Yariisow", who died after an attack on his office (Africanews, 9 August 2019). It holds about 20,000 people.

Mogadishu Stadium

Mogadishu Stadium was built in 1977, under Siad Barre's government, with Chinese engineers. The first match, in 1978, was Somalia against a Chinese club. It also hosted presidential speeches and rallies, and in 1987 the singer Magool gave the concert "Mogadishu and Magool" in its basketball hall (Mogadishu Stadium, Wikipedia).

During the war the stadium was used as a base by armed factions, then by US and Pakistani troops under UNOSOM II, by Ethiopian forces in 2007–2009, and by al-Shabaab, which banned sport. Wikipedia says that when Ethiopian troops left in January 2009, more than half the stadium was destroyed. The Somali National Army and AMISOM took it back in August 2011 (Wikipedia; Somsoccer).

Under a September 2013 agreement, China rebuilt it. New artificial turf was laid on 27 March 2020, the stadium hosted the 60th independence anniversary on 1 July 2020, and league football returned on 30 June 2020 (Wikipedia; FIFA, July 2020). It holds 65,000, the size of the record crowd for Horseed against Mogadishu City Club in July 2021 (WardheerNews).

Mire Aware Stadium, Garowe

Garowe's stadium is named after Mire Aware Jama, Somalia's minister of youth and sports, who died in a car accident on the Garowe–Bosaso road in 1993. It holds 30,000. On 15 January 2023 it was closed during a dispute over its management between the mayor of Garowe, Geeddi Ahmed Tuurre, and the chairman of the Puntland Football Federation, Mohamed Irro (Mire Aware Stadium, Wikipedia; Puntland Post, January 2023).

Hargeisa and Kismayo

Hargeisa National Stadium, home of the Somaliland team, holds 12,000 (Somaliland national football team, Wikipedia). FIFA has funded the rebuilding of Waamo Stadium in Kismayo (FIFA, July 2020).

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• Sport in Somalia
• Somali First Division
• Horseed FC
• Mogadishu