Funded by ICC, Zimbabwe to get new cricket stadium in Victoria Falls costing up to $10 million

The President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, recently laid the foundation stone for a new cricket stadium near Victoria Falls, which is a tourist hotspot in the country. The stadium is set to be named the Mosi-oa-Tunya International Cricket Stadium and will have a capacity of 10,000. 

Furthermore, the stadium will host global events in 2026 and 2027, as Zimbabwe Cricket will be hosting the Under-19 World Cup in 2026 with Namibia, while South Africa will join the two countries to host the 2027 World Cup.

It is worth noting that Zimbabwe’s government has allocated 10 hectares of land for the project that will be funded by the ICC. The construction will reportedly cost between $5 and $10 million, but the ICC did mention that there would be no more contribution from their side in the project.

Zimbabwe Cricket wants to have as many as cricket grounds

“The location of this stadium in this city will undoubtedly contribute to the speedy attainment of tourism sector targets and towards our national development aspirations as outlined in the National Development Strategy Vision 2030,” President Mnangagwa was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. 

“As Zimbabwe Cricket, we are the first to admit that our stadiums are no longer adequate, we had to lock out some fans during the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers, but that's not what we want to do. We want to have as many people to access our grounds, and we want their experience to be awesome when they come into the grounds,” he added.

Work for stadium already underway

Furthermore, the board’s media and communication manager, Darlington Majonga, came forward and highlighted the importance of hosting such major tournaments and how the construction of the new stadium will help them host such events.

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“So work is already underway and as you are aware, we will be co-hosting the 2027 Men's World Cup and before that, we are also hosting the next edition of the Under 19 World Cup together with Namibia, so these are massive tournaments and we are working to improve our facilities for more global tournaments,” Majonga said.