Over the years, the ancient city of Ibadan has been a traditional football powerhouse in Nigeria, hosting some of the most iconic teams and sports venues in the nation’s history.
Of course, the biggest team to emerge from the city is Shooting Stars Sports Club, which along with fierce rivals, Rangers International, ruled domestic football in Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s.
Partly through Shooting’s exploits, football stadiums like Adamasingba Stadium and Liberty Stadium became household names not only in Nigeria, but across the continent of Africa.
In this article, we review the best three football stadiums in the largest city in West Africa.
Obafemi Awolowo Stadium (formerly Liberty Stadium)
Renamed in November 2010 in honour of the great Western Region leader, late Obafemi Awolowo, this famous arena is still more popularly known by its previous name, Liberty Stadium by most people in the state and around the country.
The Obafemi Awolowo Stadium is one of the most iconic sports venues in Africa.
Opened in 1960- the year of Nigeria’s independence- the stadium is a proper sporting edifice, hosting an indoor sports hall as well as tennis courts, basketball courts, and more.
Indeed, the venue will also go down in history as the first in Africa to host a world boxing title fight, when it staged the 1962 middleweight bout between Dick Tiger and American, Gene Fullmer.
While still officially known as the Liberty Stadium, the stadium was amongst those used at the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations (won by Nigeria), and was one of the nine employed when Nigeria hosted the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in 1999.
Lekan Salami Stadium
Also called Adamasingba Stadium, Lekan Salami Stadium is arguably Ibadan’s second most prominent football venue after the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium.
Like many traditional edifices in Nigeria, Adamasingba underwent a period of poor maintenance, but it was recently given a face-lift and re-modelling by the Oyo State government.
Built in 1976 but officially opened in 1988, the multi-sports stadium seats 10,000 spectators and currently serves as the home ground for Shooting Stars.
Olubadan Stadium
Perhaps the least popular cousin in the Ibadan triumvirate, the Olubadan Stadium is actually older than both the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium and the Lekan Salami Stadium.
The stadium predates independence, and was playing host to the Ibadan Football Association (IFA) League in the 1950s.
More a patched-up playing venue than the architectural masterpieces of Liberty or Adamasingba, it is a proper community stadium which resonated loudly with ancient Ibadan residents.
Olubadan Stadium remains a great Ibadan heritage, and was fittingly given a renovation by the Oyo State government in 2022.
Will Ibadan Return to the Good Old Days?
Back in the day, the people of Ibadan used to pour into stadiums to cheer on local darlings, Shooting Stars, but that culture has waned in recent times due to a number of reasons, mainly poor maintenance of the stadia, and the decline of Shooting Stars.
These days, football followership in Ibadan is dominated by watching European clubs on television and placing online bets on these foreign matches. Good thing for these fans is that they now have many betting sites to choose from.
Hopefully, the good old days of “Up Sooting” ringing around Liberty or Adamasingba will return very soon!
