TWO MORE SWC STADIUMS TO OPEN
Two more of South Africa’s new World Cup stadiums will open to the public this weekend, with football matches planned in both Cape Town and Polokwane to mark the occasion.
The opening of the 70,000-seater Cape Town Stadium and the 45,000-seater Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, some 300km north of Johannesburg, means just two more venues have to be completed and begin their pre-tournament testing before the tournament in June and July.
They are Soccer City, where both the opening match and final will be played, and the Mbombela Stadium at Nelspruit.
Cape Town’s stadium hosts a derby match between the city’s two premier league clubs – Ajax Cape Town and Santos – while Polokwane hosts three South Africa top division sides plus Danish club Brondby in a one-day tournament with two semifinal games in the morning and a later afternoon final between the winners.
Both venues have restricted the capacity on Saturday as they test facilities for the first time. All of the 20,000 tickets for the Cape Town event have been sold out while 30,000 tickets are being sold in Polokwane.
Soccer City, which will have a capacity close to 95,000, is hoping to open its doors to the public for the first time next month.
There are plans to switch the traditional Soweto derby between the country’s most popular clubs Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, to the venue on Feb. 20, league officials have said.
Nelspruit’s new stadium has been forced to lay a new pitch, after drainage problems with the first, postponing its planned December opening.
But local officials said they are still going ahead with plans to host a friendly international between Ghana and Bosnia-Herzegovina there on March 3.
South Africa has built six new stadiums for the World Cup and renovated four more. The World Cup kicks off on June 11.