January 8 – The Somali Football Federation, which last October began a clean-up of its Mogadishu national stadium in a bid to return it to football usage, has now embarked on the redevelopment of its technical centre.
Using finds granted via the FIFA Forward Programme, the Somalis are enlarging and improving the centre with the first phase including the installation of an artificial turf playing surface.
Somali Football Federation president Abdiqani Said Arab, speaking at the launch ceremony and laying of the foundation stone, commented: “The second phase of the redevelopment project consists of three chapters which includes the construction of a beautiful VIP area, as the current VIP is not enough.
“The tribune will be enlarged, so that the number of seats of the Technical centre stadium will be increased and as well as more rooms will be added to the dressing rooms area. This is a huge project.”
The return of Somalia’s national stadium to football usage is a similarly lagre project and long-awaited. It took a symbolic step forward in October with members of the government and the football federation leading a clean-up operation at the venue.
The stadium, which last hosted a game in 1988, was a base for the African Union Peacekeepers during the Somali Civil war and had fallen into disrepair over that time as the situation in the country remained unstable.
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