Stade des Martyrs
 | |
| Former names | Kamanyola Stadium (1994-1997) |
|---|---|
| Location |
 Kinshasa, Congo DR |
| Coordinates | 4°19'48.99"S 15°18'37.26"E |
| Capacity | 80,000[1] |
| Surface | Synthetic Lawn |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | October 14, 1988 |
| Built | October 14, 1993 |
| Opened | September 14, 1994 |
| Construction cost | US$38,000,000 |
| Tenants | |
|
Congo DR national football team AS Vita Club DC Motema Pembe | |
The Stade des Martyrs de la Pentecôte (Martyrs of Pentecost Stadium), also known as simply the Stade des Martyrs and formerly known as Stade Kamanyola is a national stadium located in the town of Lingwala in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is mainly used for football matches and has organised many concerts and athletics competitions.
It is the home stadium of the National Team of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the AS Vita Club and DC Motema Pembe of Championship Democratic Republic of the Congo football. The stadium has a capacity of 80,000, but crowds can sometimes reach 100,000 for some matches.
History
The Stade des Martyrs was first called Stade Kamanyola at the time of Zaire. From the memorandum of Understanding of May 13, 1987 between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Zaire, construction began on October 14, 1988 and ended on October 14, 1993 The inauguration took place on September 14, 1994, on which a friendly took place after the African Cup of Nations had opposed the Leopards of Zaire and the Malawi team football. Built by the Chinese, like other prestigious achievements of the regime of Zaire, the building is now the venue of the city where the international meetings, as well as many other sporting events of cultural importance. It is considered by many football experts as the Cathedral of African Football in regard to its shape and size. Its construction cost was approximately 38,000,000 US dollars. It replaced the former National Stadium, the Stade Tata Raphael.
In 1997, the stadium was renamed to the Stade des Martyrs de la Pentecote in honour of Jerome Anany, Emmanuel Bamba, Alexandre Mahamba, and Evariste Kimba, who were hanged on June 1966 on the current site of this stadium.
In 2008, the Stadium was renovated by the government following the recommendation of FIFA and now meets international standards (wardrobe, sound, lighting, electronic marker table, numbering of the seats, press gallery, security system and fire...) at a cost of $15,000,000. The Dutch Company Edell Grass came by a lot of containers at the port of Boma and then transported them to Kinshasa by train. The containers contained 140 tonnes of synthetic rollers and 150 tons of sand. The work was conducted by a team of four technicians: two Dutch, one South African, and one Norwegian.
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Coordinates: 4°19′49.5″S 15°18′36.0″E / 4.330417°S 15.310000°E