Juba National Stadium is set to open

Steve Paterno

Juba National Stadium is set to open on June 11th, 2024. The inaugural ceremony will be colourful, with the president of the republic, Salva Kiir, presiding over the ceremony and joined by the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, plus other dignitaries, including those from the regional federation of football associations. The day will also witness the Bright Stars, the South Sudan national football team, taking on Sudan national team in a World Cup qualifier match. This will be the first time the Bright Stars will play in the new stadium, which was old and turned new.

The old Dar Raida stadium was initially envisioned to be renovated in 2019, but it was quickly realized that the plan was unattainable. A new stadium had to be constructed in its place.

However, the construction faced challenges, among which was a lack of financing. Luckily, the construction is financed by the FIFA Forward program, which is a fund reserved for member states for the development of football. The funding ended up covering the cost of the construction. FIFA approves the stadium for World Cup qualifier matches while demanding that more has to be done to improve the quality of the stadium, including erecting lights to allow games to be played at night, fixing TV screens around the stadium to streamline matches live, and changing some of the seats.

The stadium was also marred by controversy between the South Sudan Football Association (SSFA) and the government of Central Equatoria State about the ownership of the stadium. This standoff, which was played in public, has confused football fans ever since. It took the intervention of youthful, energic, newly appointed Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr Joseph Geng Akech, to resolve the dispute and speed up the inauguration of the stadium for South Sudan to host the World Cup qualifier matches.

On June 4th, in a preparatory press conference held at Juba National Stadium, Augustino Madut, the President of SSFA, underscored the timely and significant role played by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr. Akech. He pointed out that the last-minute clearing of the roads around the stadium is a clear effort to see the Minister of Youth and Sports exerted.

Juba National Stadium is one of the places in the national capital to hold public events besides football. The stadium is contained and safe, making it peaceful for the public to organize events.