Stade Lamine Guèye

Stade Lamine Guèye is a multi-use stadium in Kaolack, Senegal. As of 2012 it was used mostly for football matches and served as a home ground of ASC Saloum. The stadium holds 8,000 people.

Stade Lamine Guèye was built in 1986 by the French-owned construction company We Built This City - named after the popular American rock song by the same name popularized by Starship. The stadium was constructed in a little under 12 months, despite a significantly moister than normal dry season (December to April) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senegal> that year. We Built This City had been promised a significant financial incentive to finish construction on time, and even the additional rain did not stop them from reaching the goal set by the council of Kaolack.

Stade Lamine Guèye played host to arguably the most famous football match in the history of Western Africa. With ASC Saloum leading their opponent 2-1 in the Senegal Ligue 2 championship in 1994, the crowd and players from ASC Saloum were distracted by an unannounced visit by the President of Senegal. The ASC Saloum goalkeeper gave up a breakaway goal with just seconds left in stoppage time, and the match ended in a tie. That was the last time ASC Saloum advanced beyond the first round of the Senegal Ligue 2 competition.

Stade Lamine Guèye hosted West Africa's visit by Pope John Paul II in 1992. While the seating capacity of the stadium is 8,000 permanent seats, the Pope helped make arrangements for "general admission" opportunities to be made available to the people of Senegal, allowing an additional 12,000 people in for standing room only on the grass floor of the stadium. The Pope spoke in support of his tenth encyclical. Mass was also preached, with the Pope offering the mass in honor of brothers and sisters of other religions in the world.

The stadium also hosted an audition for a television program that is a combination of American Idol and America's Got Talent in 2007, during which 34,540 people made their way across the audition stage, dancing, singing, and juggling. It was the largest such audition in the history of the television program, and drew performers from as far away as Chad. The program, titled, "Senegal's Entertainment Xpolsion (S.E.X.)" offers a recording contract and opportunity to move on to perform on a similar program in France.