Stade Olympique de Sousse

The Sousse Olympic Stadium (French: Stade Olympique de Sousse) is a multi-purpose stadium in Sousse, Tunisia. It is used by the football team Étoile du Sahel, and was used for the 2004 African Cup of Nations. The stadium holds 28,000 people. It hosts within it the meetings played by the football team of the city: Étoile sportive du Sahel (ESS).

Sousse Olympic Stadium
Cemetery of the invaders
LocationSousse, Tunisia
Coordinates35°49′24″N 10°36′46″E
OwnerGovernment of Tunisia
Capacity28,000[1]
Record attendance28,000
Field size105 m × 65 m
SurfaceGrass
Construction
Opened1973
Renovated1994
2019–2021
Expanded1999
Tenants
Étoile du Sahel

It hosted 1977 FIFA U-20 World Cup, 1994 African Cup of Nations, 2001 Mediterranean Games and 2004 African Cup of Nations.

History

For many decades, Sousse footballers knew only the clay surfaces and knew the turf surfaces only when the stadium was inaugurated with an initial capacity of 10,000 places. It passes over the years to 15,000 seats and is then expanded again on the occasion of the 1994 African Cup of Nations with 6,000 additional seats to reach a capacity of 21,000 seats; A luminous panel is installed at the same time. The last expansion was carried out in 1999 to bring the capacity of the stadium to 28,000 seats for the 2001 Mediterranean Games, a reorganization of the gallery of honor was carried out, from a capacity of 70 to 217 places. The stadium has yet to be expanded to reach the capacity of 49,000 seats after the announcement the president of the club Moez Driss in May 2008.

The Olympic Stadium of Sousse also hosted some of the Libyan national team’s matches due to the Libyan war, such as Libya and Rwanda in the 2018 World Cup qualification.

Renovation

In November 2017, on a visit to the President of the Republic, Beji Caid Essebsi, to Sousse, he gave an indication of the beginning of the expansion of the stadium and thus in March 2019, the inauguration ceremony of the beginning of works of the Stadium was attended by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Sonia Ben Cheikh, in order to be able to accommodate 45,000 spectators instead of the current capacity.

The cost of completing the total works was estimated at 32 million dinars, including 4 million dinars as a contribution from the Municipality of Sousse and 2 million dinars from the contribution of the team and coastal and is expected to include the expansion of the stadium, which will extend for 27 months, especially covered runways and open runways in the east and north and south will also include works. The rehabilitation of the wardrooms, the rehabilitation of the health units for the public, the creation of 22 cells and the complete restoration of electricity networks.

Tunisia national football team
Sousse Staduim exterior.

The following national team matches were held in the stadium.

#DateScoreOpponentCompetition
1.23 March 19831–0 MoroccoFriendly
2.2 January 19952–0 EgyptFriendly
3.6 October 19962–0 Sierra Leone1998 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
4.2 May 19981–1 GeorgiaFriendly
5.12 August 20090–0 Ivory CoastFriendly
6.29 May 20113–0 Central African RepublicFriendly
7.3 June 20115–0 Chad2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
8.14 November 20121–2  SwitzerlandFriendly
9.6 July 20130–1 Morocco2014 African Nations Championship qualification

Major tournaments

1977 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Stade Olympique de Sousse served as a venue for the tournament. It hosted all the matches of Group C. The games were:

Date Time Team #1 Res. Team #2 Round
27 June 197712:00 Italy1–1 Ivory CoastGroup C
27 June 197716:00 Brazil5–1 IranGroup C
30 June 197712:00 Iran0–0 ItalyGroup C
30 June 197716:00 Ivory Coast1–1 BrazilGroup C
3 July 197712:00 Iran3–0 Ivory CoastGroup C
3 July 197716:00 Brazil2–0 ItalyGroup C

2001 Mediterranean Games

Stade Olympique de Sousse served as a venue for the tournament. It hosted all the matches of Group B. The games were:

Date Team #1 Res. Team #2 Round
5 September 2001 Greece1–2 TurkeyGroup B
9 September 2001 Turkey1–1 LibyaGroup B
11 September 2001 Greece1–0 LibyaGroup B

1994 Africa Cup of Nations

Stade Olympique de Sousse served as a venue for the tournament. It hosted six matches of the group stage, and two matches of quarter-finals. The games were:

Date Team #1 Res. Team #2 Round Attendance
27 March 1994 Ivory Coast4–0 Sierra LeoneGroup C10,000
27 March 1994 Ghana1–0 GuineaGroup D10,000
29 March 1994 Zambia0–0 Sierra LeoneGroup C6,000
29 March 1994 Senegal2–1 GuineaGroup D6,000
31 March 1994 Zambia1–0 Ivory CoastGroup C6,000
31 March 1994 Ghana1–0 SenegalGroup D6,000
3 April 1994 Zambia1–0 SenegalQuarter-finals8,000
3 April 1994 Ghana1–2 Ivory CoastQuarter-finals8,000

2004 Africa Cup of Nations

Stade Olympique de Sousse served as a venue for the tournament. It hosted four matches of the group stage, and one match of semi-finals. The games were:

Date Time Team #1 Res. Team #2 Round Attendance
25 January 200419:00 Cameroon1–1 AlgeriaGroup C20,000
29 January 200419:00 Algeria2–1 EgyptGroup D15,000
3 February 200414:00 Algeria1–2 ZimbabweGroup C10,000
4 February 200418:00 Morocco1–1 South AfricaGroup D6,000
11 February 200419:00 Morocco4–0 MaliSemi-finals15,000

References
  1. http://stadiumdb.com/stadiums/tun/stade_olympique_de_sousse
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.