Africa Cup of Nations 2021 - Serge Ferrari dresses 3 of the 6 stadiums of the competition​

Olembe — Paul Biya Omnisport Stadium

The newly built Paul Biya Stadium, also called Olembe Stadium, is a gigantic sports complex with a capacity of 60,000 located in the outskirts of Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon. Named as a tribute to the President of the Republic of Cameroon, in office since 1982, the complex includes in addition to the main football field various adjoining installations, including two training fields with 100 seats each, a gymnasium, an olympic pool, an athletics field, as well as several basketball, tennis and volleyball courts.
Aside from these installations exclusively dedicated to the practice of sport, the site also encompasses a vast hospitality resort, as well as a shopping centre, a museum and a cinema.
By its size and the comprehensiveness of its amenities, this stadium represents a major international sports stage, both for AFCON and for Cameroon. The stadium hosted the opening match for the competition on 9 January, and will host the final match on 6 February.
The roof covering Paul Biya Stadium is a tensile structure consisting of 136 panels six metres wide and 52 metres long, assembled together to form a large white crown suspended over the terraces. The entire roof structure is covered with 50,000 sqm of Serge Ferrari Flexlight Advanced 1202 S2 membrane supported by a concrete and steel framework. Delivering homogeneous colours in transparency and ease of maintenance, Serge Ferrari’s membrane provides durable shelter for this high-profile project.

Japoma — Omnisport Stadium of Douala

Located in Japoma, near Douala, and inaugurated in 2019, the Japoma multisport complex is one of the largest stadiums in Cameroon, with a capacity of 50,000.
A superstructure of foremost importance, it was built by Turkey’s Yenigün Construction Group. In addition to the football field, the site is also home to two covered training fields of 2,000 seats each, a gymnasium, an eight-lane olympic pool with a capacity of 1,000 spectators, as well as four tennis courts.
The stadium has already hosted CHAN (African Nations Championship) 2020 early in 2021 and will be among venues hosting the most AFCON 2021 events, with a total of 10 matches planned, including two quarter-finals and one semi-finals matches.
The project was developed based on sustainable economic principles, but is also deeply rooted in its cultural and physical environment: the design for the stadium’s roof and envelope draws inspiration from the shape and colours of traditional Cameroonian woven baskets crafted by local artisans. The materials used for the construction were chosen to ensure easy maintenance of the complex. The site’s architecture features 13,500 sqm of Serge Ferrari Frontside View 381 in a silver metal colour, fitted onto a lightweight bioclimatic facade. This weather-resistant membrane was favoured to minimize heat buildup inside the venue while delivering protection against rain and ensuring visual comfort for its tens of thousands of spectators.
Finally, the stadium's roof is equipped with almost 30,000 sqm of Duraskin B4618 Verseidag fabric, making this stadium a true Serge Ferrari Group project.

A closer look at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium

Built in the heart of the city of Yaounde in 1972, the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium could initially seat up to 12,000 people, before it was renovated and expanded in 2016 for the 2016 women’s AFCON to reach a total of 42,500 seats.
Dubbed ‘Mfandena’s Bowl’, for the district where it is located, the Ahmadou Ahidjo Omnisport Stadium is named after the first President of Cameroon. As a stage for the national team’s most exciting successes, it is set to host nine AFCON 2021 matches.
Completed in 2016, the stadium’s renovation has seen the addition of a number of new structures, including a 4,700-sqm roof covered with Flexlight Advanced 1502 S2, a translucent membrane ideally suited to roof projects exposed to significant mechanical stress.
In 2016, the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium was also fitted with a tensile facade consisting of large panels of Serge Ferrari Frontside View 381 representing the flag of Cameroon. This composition of 39 different-shaped panels was designed by Prat Structures Avancées, a practice specializing in the design and installation of lightweight structures and tensile architecture.
Jacques Prat, head of Prat Structures engineering, explains: ‘The Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium project came with a number of constraints, both technical — because the request was to design, manufacture and install textile panels on an already existing structure that was difficult to access — and logistical — for accessing the site and planning the work.’
The various panels, specifically developed in colours reproducing the colours for the flag of Cameroon, were manufactured from Frontside View 381.