Algeria names football stadium after Nelson Mandela

Workers are pictured at the construction site of the Baraki stadium, in the Baraki suburb of the Algerian capital Algiers [RYAD KRAMDI/AFP via Getty Images]

Algerian Sports Minister Abdel Razzak Sabkak announced on Tuesday that the new football stadium currently under construction near Algiers will be named after the late South African leader Nelson Mandela, Anadolu news agency has reported. Sabkak made the announcement at a press conference.

The new stadium will have a 40,000 capacity and will host the opening ceremony of the next African Nations Championship. The tournament is scheduled to be held in stadiums across Algeria from 13 January to 4 February 2023.

Mandela was a revolutionary politician who struggled against the apartheid regime in South Africa. After his release from prison and the fall of apartheid he served as president between 1994 and 1999. He had a special relationship with the Algerian Liberation Revolution (1954-1962).
In 1961, Mandela received his first military training in the ranks of the National Liberation Army in Algeria. He also sent a number of African National Congress resistance fighters to Algeria to receive military training, before and after Algeria’s independence in 1962.

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