Barbados National Stadium was officially opened on October 23, 1970. It is a multi-use

Multi-purpose stadium

Multi-purpose stadiums are a type of stadium designed in such a way as to be easily used by multiple sports. While any stadium could potentially host more than one sport, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy that stresses multi-functionality over specificity...

 outdoor stadium

Stadium

A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...

 in Waterford, St. Michael, Barbados

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

. Situated approximately 4.3km northeast of Bridgetown it is located off Highway 3. The stadium is currently used mostly for football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 matches. The stadium holds 15,000.

In 2006, FIFA

FIFA

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...

 condemned the national football stadium of Barbados though the country was hoping to demolish and rebuild the ground before its 2010 World Cup qualification campaign begins.http://www.caribbeanpressreleases.com/articles/5603/1/Barbados-Government-Still-Looking-At-Redevelopment-Of-National-Stadium/Page1.html In 2011 the Barbadian government estimated the cost to re-engineer the stadiums' running track

All-weather running track

An all weather running track is the common term to describe a rubberized artificial running surface for the sport of Track and field athletics. Throughout the history of the sport, there has always been a search for a consistent surface that gave competitors an equal advantage, to test their...

 at 2 million dollars. No date has been determined when the funding could be sourced or the works could be carried out. But Barbados' past World Championships in Athletics gold-medalist Ryan Brathwaite

Ryan Brathwaite

Ryan Brathwaite is a track and field athlete from Barbados who won the gold medal in the 110 metres hurdles at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin...

has publicly condemned the current state of the National Stadiums' track infrastructure. In 2010 the stadium started hosting the Joseph Payne Memorial Classic, a competitive event among Barbadian secondary school students.http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/500-entries-for-classic-meet/

External links

• Sports and stadiums in Barbados
• Barbados National Stadium, Barbados Sports Council