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Stadium

Stade de l'Amitié Général Mathieu Kérékou

Cotonou, Benin

Formerly: Stade de l'Amitié

On the map
Children practicing skating at the Stade de l’Amitié Général Mathieu Kérékou in Cotonou, Benin
Children practicing skating at the Stade de l’Amitié Général Mathieu Kérékou in Cotonou, Benin Adoscam · CC BY-SA 4.0
Stade de l'Amitié Général Mathieu Kérékou, Cotonou, Benin
Stade de l'Amitié Général Mathieu Kérékou Adoscam · CC BY-SA 4.0
Training of children in skating on the esplanade of the General Mathieu Kérékou friendship stadium with their coaches
Training of children in skating on the esplanade of the General Mathieu Kérékou friendship stadium with their coaches Adoscam · CC BY-SA 4.0

The Stade de l'Amitié Général Mathieu Kérékou sits in the Kouhounou district of Cotonou. It opened in 1982 as a gesture of cooperation with the People's Republic of China. The original capacity was higher before the 2021 rehabilitation trimmed it back to 30,000 seats.

The Benin national team has used this venue as its primary home since the renovations. The pitch is natural, but the condition of the surface shifts with the seasons, just as the safety ratings of the stadium have shifted with the bureaucracy of the international federations.

The stadium hosted the 2021 CAF Confederation Cup Final, an event that ended in a 2–1 victory for Raja Casablanca and a fine for the local federation. That match pulled the venue into the wider conversation, but the ground is usually defined by what it lacks: a permanent roof, a sense of enclosure, and a consistent standard of upkeep. The floodlights stand like sentinels, but they rarely do their work.

The complex includes an artificial turf training field, a remnant of the ambition that built the main arena. The office managing the site now operates under a concession arrangement, but the public remains outside the blue fencing. The atmosphere is not one of celebration so much as maintenance, a daily effort to keep a large, unfinished space from falling apart entirely.