AFCON 2023: Ebimpé Stadium pitch a disgrace!

A total cost of 219 million euros, plus a further sum of more than 30 million euros to redo the pitch over two years from 2021 to 2023. The result? Still nothing. The pitch at the Alassane Ouattara Olympic Stadium in Ebimpé gave way on Tuesday 12 September 2023 after heavy rain. The friendly between Ivory Coast and Mali was halted at half-time (0-0). However, the deluge that hit the whole of Abidjan made it impossible to restart the game. The Ivorian public was left dismayed. So were the authorities.

Billions swallowed up for nothing

Sport News Africa contacted specialists to understand what was happening. "I had warned them. I even met some officials to show them my pitch project. Nobody listened to me. The drainage system at this stadium is not good. There is a new technique that was not used. They should have handed all of this to the Turks, after snubbing the Ivorians. I'm watching all this from a distance now", said Claude Blatilde, a groundskeeping expert and founder of a company in the field. When Ebimpé Stadium closed on 14 June 2021, a new state-of-the-art pitch was announced at the start of the works in December of the same year. Images even showed experts rolling it out. Today, it all looks more like stage management than anything else.

Read more on this subject: Ebimpé Stadium, a renovation costing 20 billion CFA francs

"This is not the first time it has rained in Ivory Coast. We had a heavy rainy spell just a month ago. People have simply hidden the truth from Ivorians. They brought in a second-hand pitch", he said as our interview ended. There is anger everywhere: at the stadium, where even the corridors and rooms are flooded, and on social media.

Responsibility to be pinned down, jobs on the line

"Once and for all, responsibility must be established and those responsible must be punished in accordance with the law. The Ivorian taxpayer cannot be asked to hand over more than 200 million euros for the construction and renovation of Ebimpé Stadium and then, after 2 or 3 matches, end up with this! It's unacceptable. We have to stop constantly making excuses and writing off failings just to protect ourselves or protect others. And it's the same everywhere (roads, stadiums, etc). Billions spent, for results like this ", said Nasser Eddy Nicolas, a pundit on the private Ivorian channel NCI.

As we went to press, an urgent meeting was under way. "The minister will speak shortly", a source at the Ministry of Sports told us. Amid the chaos, the referees called the match off. And for the Ministry of Sports, and therefore the ONS, talk of sackings is growing louder, with the Council of Ministers a day away on 13 September 2023. Everyone knows they are in the firing line over these millions of euros thrown down the drain.

Séverin SANH