Lekan Salami Stadium

The stand at Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan holds a distinctive curve. The track running around the grass is blue, a colour that matches the seats in the main stand, creating a single block of tone that separates the playing surface from the sky. The floodlights rise on tall masts at either end, pointing inwards towards the electronic scoreboards that hang above the middle of the stand.

The ground was built for athletics before it became a football venue, and the track remains the defining feature. When Shooting Stars FC play here, the runners are gone, but the lane markings stay, and the distance from the touchline to the nearest seat is still measured in strides. The stadium was renamed in 1998 after Chief Lekan Salami, though it was originally commissioned as Adamasingba Stadium in 1988. The renovation in 2021 added a VAR room and a media tribune, but the curve of the roof is the same shape it has carried since the start.

It hosted matches during the 2009 Under-17 World Cup, a tournament that changed the look of the place more than the local league ever did. The natural grass is FIFA-recommended now, but the pitch is still close to the track, and the players must account for the blue surface when they work a short corner. The stadium sits on Adamasingba Road, near the Mokola hill, and the view from the stands catches the road traffic below. It is not the largest ground in Nigeria, but the curve of the roof and the blue track give it a shape that is easy to spot from the outside.