World Cup Stadium Profile: Mbombela Stadium

Venues And Conditions / Ben Lyttleton / 31 March 2010 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

Zebras outside, giraffes inside

The Mbomela Stadium in Nelpsruit, Dutch for Nel's stream, has been one of the most controversial of the five newly-constructed venues for this World Cup. Ben Lyttleton reports.

"Kruger National Park is the main reason Nelspruit has been chosen as a World Cup venue: it is the largest game reserve in South Africa extending 350km from north to south, and 60km from east to west ­ and with temperatures hitting over 100°F in summer, this is the right time to visit."

When reporters checked out the Mbombela Stadium, they discovered a dry patch of sand on the pitch.

The infrastructure of the 43,000-capacity stadium, with its 18 orange roof supports in the shape of giraffes, and black-and-white zebra seats, makes it one of the most distinctive in the tournament, but the surface has caused nothing but headaches for the organizers.

They even had to cancel a March friendly between Ghana and Bosnia-Herzegovina because clay had affected the pitch and it was not fit for play. The groundstaff had to twice dig up inadequate pitches before a new pitch laid in March, and made up only of rye grass, germinated well and now completes a stunning sporting arena.

"We're confident that World Cup fans will be able to experience World Cup football in one of our country's most picturesque and famous provinces," said World Cup organizer Danny Jordaan of the stadium that will host four group matches, featuring Honduras-Chile, Australia-Serbia, North Korea-Ivory Coast and Italy-New Zealand.

The animal-themed design of the stadium ties in with the world-famous Kruger National Park but also the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique and Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe. The trio is known collectively as Limpopo-Transfrontier Park.

It will be hot for fans in the Mpumalanga province of Nelspruit, located on a low-lying plateau, in the fertile Crocodile River valley in the north-east of South Africa, where winter temperatures are around 23°C. The stadium is the only top-level venue in the region, and will be home to newly-promoted Premier League side Mpumalanga Black Aces after the tournament.

There is very little football history from the region: former Bafana Bafana international Dsvid Nyathi is its most famous son, while Dangerous Darkies spent two years in the top flight in the early 1990s before relegation.

Kruger National Park is the main reason Nelspruit has been chosen as a World Cup venue: it is the largest game reserve in South Africa extending 350km from north to south, and 60km from east to west ­ and with temperatures hitting over 100°F in summer, this is the right time to visit. There are other sites to enjoy, including the Sudwala Caves, said to be the oldest known caves in the world, and the Mac-Mac Falls, where shimmering waters plunge 65m in an area of natural beauty.

By the times the matches get underway in Nelspruit, the dramas about the pitch will all be forgotten: the majesty of the Mbombela Stadium, named after the SiSwati dialect for "Many people together in a small space," and the dramatic surrounding scenery will be all the fans are talking about.

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