Sport

Minsep says one month needed to rehabilitate degraded Japoma stadium

The 50,000-seater Japoma stadium in Douala is not usable at the moment and will require at least one month to be rehabilitated, the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education (Minsep) has said.

ONIES, the body responsible for managing the stadium, said the Japoma has degraded due to heavy rainfall and overuse.

It hosted the CAF Champions League game between Victoria United of Cameroon and FC Smartex Smartex of Ghana on August 18.

Before then, Central African Republic borrowed the stadium to host a game between its home club Red Star and Djodiba AC De Bamako as part of the CAF Champions League.

ONIES indicated that the stadium’s turf had degraded and further use will mar the football experience.

Owing to this disability, the Japoma Sports Complex was disqualified from hosting the Cameroon-Namibia AFCON 2025 qualifiers game on September 7.

In a statement released on Friday after a preparatory meeting ahead of the match, the Ministry of Sports revealed that “…this infrastructure, faced with a case of force majeure, is in a state of temporary unavailability.”

It added: “This is for an irreducible period of around thirty days. During this period until September 19, 2024, curative maintenance and preventive upgrading work on the playing area will be carried out in order to remedy the degradation of the lawn following its overexploitation and heavy rainfall.”

Many Cameroonians were taken aback when it was revealed that the Japoma stadium, a relatively new infrastructure, could not be used after just a few months of rainfall.

The stadium was constructed in 2017 and opened in 2020 and hosted the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2024 African Athletics Championship.

The stadium is part of a sports complex that also includes an indoor arena for basketball, handball, futsal and volleyball, tennis courts and an eight-lane Olympic-size swimming pool, as well as conference and commercial centres, a hotel and a parking lot.

©Mimi Mefo Info

Tata Mbunwe

Recent Posts

Fako Trade Unions Decry Non-payment of Salaries at Labour Day Celebration

Some trade unions in Fako Division, South West Region, are urging for better working conditions…

2 hours ago

Bokwaongo Royal Family Rejects Njie Mbonde’s Designation as Chief

By Tata Mbunwe The designation of journalist Albert Njie Mbonde as Chief of Bokwaongo village…

2 hours ago

Menka Village Responds to Separatist Attacks: Kidnapping and Recovery of Stolen Equipment

Youths in Menka, a village in the Pinyin area of Cameroon’s North West Region, have…

4 hours ago

Limbe Hosts 139th International Labour Day Celebrations

The 139th edition of International Labour Day is being marked in Limbe with an official…

5 hours ago

10-Month-Old Baby Abducted in Brutal Attack on Mother

A 10-month-old baby girl, Bih Irene, has been reported missing following a violent assault on…

7 hours ago

La création d’une filiale pétrolière à Kribi sous la présidence de l’épouse du DG de la SNH crée la controverse

Un communiqué publié cette semaine a annoncé la création de CSTAR, une société de projet…

7 hours ago