The Akwa Ibom International Stadium is among the stadiums nominated for Stadium of the Year award. This current edition includes 32 major stadiums opened in 2014.
Eight are located in Brazil, Three in the USA, while Hungary and Poland each have two nominees.
Grzegorz Kaliciak, founder of StadiumDB.com, organizer of the competition had this to say about the Akwa Ibom Stadium.
“It’s great to see a new stadium for Nigeria to be proud of, Its white outer cladding and illumination also make it stand out globally and become a true landmark for Uyo,”
The competition takes two forms of voting: The Public Vote and Jury Vote.
Football fans (Public Vote) around the world can vote to select their Stadium of the Year. Each Internet user may vote only once by selecting five most favourite stadia, Football fans can vote through the dedicated online platform. The vote is open until February 17.
The next round of voting is by the competition Jury, consisting of famous architects from five countries. Bob van Bebber and Mike Bell from South Africa designed stadiums of the 2010 World Cup, while Bruno Campos of Brazil was one of the architects of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The Jury also consists of John Bontinck (Belgium), Bryan Roe (Ireland) and Serban Tiganas (Romania).
Stadium of the Year is held every year in January and February by Stadiony.net and StadiumDB.com, two websites dedicated solely to sports stadiums.
This is the fifth edition, previous winners include Aviva Stadium (2010), PGE Arena Gdansk (2011), Gremio Arena (2012) and Ghelamco Arena (2013).
Stadium of the Year is not a commercial competition. It’s an independent project organized to establish the most appreciated stadiums worldwide
The winner will be announced on February 19.
Photo of the stadiums:
