Top 5 Stadiums to Watch Live Soccer in Nigeria

Stamford Bridge (Chelsea), Old Trafford (Manchester Utd), Emirates (Arsenal FC) and Santiago Bernabéu (Real Madrid) are a select few of the world’s most popular stadiums. Many soccer fans who follow these leagues and support any of these clubs are familiar with them.

Although, Nigerian stadiums cannot be compared with any of the aforementioned, there are places around the country where you can have fun while watching a soccer match played by any sports team. In the spirit of football, Jovago.com, Africa’s No 1 hotel booking portal rounds up 5 of these stadiums to watch live soccer in Nigeria.

Teslim Balogun Stadium

On Sunday 22nd November 2015, the Fed Cup final was played in at the Teslim Balogun stadium between Akwa United from Akwa Ibom and Lobi Stars of Makurdi.

The stadium was finally completed in 2007 as it took 23 years of inconsistent construction work since 1984. It has a capacity of about 24,000 seats. It is an imposing structure near the federal-owned National stadium, Lagos in Surulere.

Now that Lagos has two teams, namely Ikorodu United and M.F.M Football club in the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL), Lagosians can now watch great football weekly at the Teslim Balogun stadium. It has artificial turf with a digital scoreboard and is owned by the Lagos state Government.

Sani Abacha Stadium

The Sani Abacha Stadium is the fortress of Kano Pillars, a club founded in 1990.Why is the stadia a fortress? This is because the team was unbeaten for 12 years! The unbeaten run came to an end when the team was defeated 2 goals to 1 at the stadium.

The Sani Abacha stadium was commissioned in 1998 and has a carrying capacity of 25,000 fans and is always filled to the brim with fans whenever home games are played. They won the NPFL title in 2007/08, 2011/12, 2013 and 2014 seasons.

U.J. Esuene

The U.J. Esuene stadium in Calabar is the adopted base of the Nigerian super eagles. With the Abuja National stadium on recess, the U.J. Esuene stadium has been used to execute the matches of the Super Eagles. Interestingly, Nigeria has won many of their games at the stadium commissioned in 1977. It is located close to the Obudu ranch

Lekan Salami

The 18,000 seater stadium is home to Ibadan’s darling club, Shooting Stars. The love for these Ibadan based club founded in the year of Nigeria’s independence blows the mind. Their passion for the club makes them troop to the Adamasingba stadium to watch their club. The stadium is owned by the state government.

Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium

Have you heard about the Oriental Derby? This is arguably Nigeria’s El-classico! The Oriental Derby is the match between Heartland formerly (Iwuanyanwu National) of Owerri and Enugu Rangers. This is always explosive and each team will do everything possible on the field to win the match.  The Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium is the home of Enugu Rangers and has a capacity of 22,000 with an artificial pitch.