Will the Beach Soccer World Cup in Seychelles be ready in time?
Three months before the opening ceremony in Seychelles, the work needed for the Beach Soccer World Cup has yet to begin.
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Named on 16 December 2022 as hosts of the 2025 Beach Soccer World Cup, Seychelles had plenty of time to prepare for the event.
Government, federation, partners: everything appeared to be on track, notably with a plan drawn up to renovate roads and facilities around a new stadium built specially for the occasion, with a capacity of 4,000 spectators.
The arena is also due to be dismantled afterwards so that two smaller ones can be built, in order to preserve the legacy and investment of this Beach Soccer World Cup.
No sign of work three months before the opening ceremony
Planned for the Roche Caïman district, on the main island of Mahé, the stadium was meant to sit next to the national team's former home, the Stade Populaire, which is still used by clubs and for athletics competitions (a track runs around the pitch).
Yet with the opening ceremony three months away, scheduled for 1 May 2025, there is no sign of any work at the site earmarked for the new stadium or on the neighbouring road. There is also no sign of any structure able to host spectators or let them get something to eat and drink. There is just a patch of wasteland and some wind turbines nearby.
Read also: Seychelles: elections, Beach Soccer World Cup and a contested president
What is more, road access has always been a problem, and huge traffic jams build up when a few hundred people are at the stadium, notably during concerts. In those conditions, it is hard to imagine traffic flowing smoothly with a new stadium holding 4,000 spectators.
FIFA disappointed by the lack of funding from the Seychelles government
In May 2024, a ceremony under the auspices of the President of the Republic, Wavel Ramkalawan, was held in Victoria with the trophy for the future winners and the presence of Jaime Yarza, FIFA's director of the tournaments sub-division.
In front of the cameras, everyone had a kind word to say about this major event for Seychelles and the African continent, with FIFA repeatedly stressing that it was the first Beach Soccer World Cup staged in Africa.
However, the budget granted by the Seychelles government (around 200,000 euros, against 2,792,000 euros for hosting the Indian Ocean Island Games and the Youth Games, for example) has left FIFA deeply disappointed. Behind the scenes, relations are fairly cool, mainly over who will provide the extra funding needed for works that, given the time left, will not match the plan in any case, notably on accessibility.
The stadium is due to arrive in containers from Dubai
As reported by Sport News Africa in November, the South African company commissioned for the construction is also in a state of uncertainty. This wait-and-see attitude extends to the federation's leadership, who were more concerned with winning last December's elections than with being transparent about what was meant to be the "high point" of Seychelles football, and nobody can say whether it will actually go ahead in May as planned.
Given the time constraints, some are wondering whether the planned venue will simply be changed. A few hundred metres further up, some construction machinery is on site to rebuild a road running alongside another complex. While the ground there is still an empty plot, it could serve as a fallback option.
Officially, the stadium is due to arrive in containers from Dubai in mid-February, with lead times cut to the bare minimum, which is not what Seychelles customs are used to. Delivery is still officially scheduled for the third week of April, but plenty of questions remain unanswered: how and where, for example, will the containers be stored, given that no provision has been made for it?