Accommodation near Soccer City - 25

Soccer City, which is officially known as the FNB Stadium, is located in Nasrec, a suburb in the sprawling Soweto township to the south of Johannesburg. It was built in 1989 and naming rights were immediately sold to First National Bank. In those days, the stadium had the capacity for 80 000 people, but today, after extensive upgrades, it can hold 94 736. This makes Soccer City the largest stadium in Africa.

The afore mentioned upgrades were done in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which was hosted in South Africa. Given the volumes of people expected and the high profile nature of the event, the high sums of money spent on the project were deemed worth it and many sports teams and their spectators benefit from the renovations.

Some of the changes done to the original stadium include the addition of new change rooms and new floodlights, an adaptation of the bottom tier of seating to provide a better sight line an extension of the top tier and the addition of 2 new executive suites. They also added an encircling roof, which sealed the design vision inspired by a calabash – the African fruit which is often dried and used as a gourd. This design sparked the stadium’s third nickname- the Calabash. The second nickname, Soccer City, came about because of FIFA’s strict rules prohibiting sponsor naming for any of the Soccer World Cup venues.

Soccer City or the FNB Stadium is primarily used for soccer these days, although during the course of its life it has hosted many significant events, from Nelson Mandela’s first speech in Johannesburg after his release, to Chris Hani’s funeral and the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final. It is the home turf of the Johannesburg soccer team, the Kaiser Chiefs so regularly sees both local and international soccer matches. Soccer City has also hosted a few rugby matches in its day and regularly acts as a venue for big live music acts such as U2, Lady Gaga, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Justin Bieber.

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