LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is expected to change the name of the iconic Gaddafi Stadium of Lahore, nearly five decades after it was named in honour of former Libya president Muammar Gaddafi.
In 2012, months after he was assassinated, the now-defunct National Transitional Council of Libya unofficially asked Pakistan to rename the fourth largest stadium in the country. This message was conveyed to the Pakistan embassy in the capital of Tripoli.
The president had enjoyed a warm friendship with former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and as a mark of that friendship, the erstwhile Lahore Stadium was rechristened as Gaddafi Stadium following a speech he gave at the second Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in 1974 in Lahore, where he supported Pakistan’s right to develop nuclear weapons.
This time around, the reason, however, is purely financial. PCB chairman Ramiz Raja told ESPNcricinfo the board was in advanced negotiations with a number of sponsors, one of which would win the right to have the stadium renamed after it.
ESPNcricinfo further reported the National Stadium in Karachi, as well as other major cricket stadia around the country, might also be renamed once sponsors are lined up.
