Kigali Arena, one of Africa's state-of-the-art venues, unveiled in front of thousand cheering fans

KIGALI (Rwanda) - A brand new 10,000-seater multipurpose arena has been launched in Rwanda's capital Kigali on Friday.

The new infrastructure can house a number of social and sports events, and took less than a year to complete.  

And thousands of Rwandas flocked into Kigali Arena - located next to Amahoro National Stadium - to witness the unveiling of one of Africa's state-of-the-art venues. 

 The complex sits on a 28,000 square-metre piece of land, with a parking lot that can accommodate over 600 vehicles. 

It has six changing rooms for the teams, one fitness centre, a dozen cafeteria and restaurants, a media hall and a modern doping control room.

During an update on the upcoming Basketball Africa League (BAL) early this month in Dakar, Kigali Arena was confirmed as the site of the 2020 BAL FINAL-FOUR and Final.

In the occasion, Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, reminded his countrymen and women that the new venue is not just a decoration to be visited on Christmas and New Year but that it was built to host the best basketball players of Rwanda and Africa, for them to train, play and win.

 "I thank the people of Summa who were contracted to build this Arena. They did good work, night and day and they finished it only in six months. It is also important to note that 70% of the workforce that put up this Arena were Rwandans,” Kagame said.

Kigali Arena has become the last state-of-the-art multipurpose venues on the continent of Africa after Dakar Arena (Senegal) and Arena Kilamba (Luanda).

FIBA