February 24, (THEWILL) – Austin “Jay Jay” Okocha, Nigerian football icon, was among the football greats on the continent that attended Senegal’s Diamniadio Olympic Stadium inauguration in Dakar on Wednesday.
The Senegalese government spent a fortune constructing what is planned to be a multi-purpose stadium that can accommodate football, rugby, and athletics events, and the government officially opened the facility two weeks after they won their first ever Africa Cup of Nations trophy.
And now, the country’s national team, the Teranga Lions of Senegal, will make the facility their new home stadium with its 50,000-seat capacity able to accommodate the crowds that will throng to the stadium to watch their team live.
The Diamniadio Olympic Stadium is also scheduled to host the Summer Youth Olympics in 2026, billed for Dakar.
In the match to open the Stadium and as part of the inaugural festivities, Okocha completed a fantastic team play to ensure a 1-1 draw for the African Legends against the Senegalese Legends. His goal equalised the scoreline after Kalidou Fadiga had opened the scoring for the hosts.
El Hadji Diouf, Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, Emmanuel Adebayor, and a selected crop of other African soccer legends performed for the crowd of over 40,000 fans and African dignitaries that attended the inauguration ceremony.
The game was a spectacle, with Senegalese President Macky Sall using the chance to celebrate his country’s AFCON victory once more with the trophy in full glory. Sall also disclosed that the stadium will be named after Abdoulaye Wade, the country’s former head of state.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
