Ivory Coast, China and the murky truth behind AFCON's most high-tech stadium
The Stade Alassane Ouattara in Ebimpe, which has been called the most advanced football arena in Africa, looks like a spaceship, one that was landed incongruously on the red earth of semi-rural Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s de-facto capital.It is not a machine-beast, lumpen or identikit, but an architectural wonder with subtleties, such as a roof that curves and swoops around its giant bowl like an ocean wave or a skateboard rink. Below, enormous coliseum-style pillars support a fascia that includes latticing reflective of the Ivory Coast’s tricolour flag.But the truth is that this stadium is her...