Soccer City

Location	Johannesburg, South Africa
Coordinates	26°14′5.27″S 27°58′56.47″E / 26.2347972°S 27.9823528°E / -26.2347972; 27.9823528Coordinates: 26°14′5.27″S 27°58′56.47″E / 26.2347972°S 27.9823528°E / -26.2347972; 27.9823528
Broke ground	1986[1]
Opened	1989[2]
Renovated	2009
Expanded	2009
Owner	The Stadia and Soccer Development Trust [3]
Operator	South African Football Association
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	USD $ 200 million renovated 2009
Architect	Boogertman & Partners, Populous
Capacity	94,700 (football)[4][5]
Tenants
South Africa national football team

Soccer City, sometimes referred to as the FNB Stadium, is a stadium located in the Soweto area of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located next to the South African Football Association headquarters (SAFA House) where both the FIFA offices and the Local Organising Committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is housed. ^[4]

A football-specific stadium, the FNB Stadium currently has a capacity of 94,700, the largest in Africa. Most of the largest football events in South Africa are played at the FNB and the venue is better suited to these events than nearby Coca-Cola Park, where the final for the Rugby World Cup in 1995 was held. Soweto and the National Exhibition Centre in Nasrec are nearby.

[edit] 2010 World Cup

The stadium will hold the opening match South Africa Vs. Mexico, four more first-round matches, one second-round match, one quarter-final, and the final.

Construction work in progress at Soccer City in May 2008.

The Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg has undergone a major upgrade for the 2010 tournament, with a new design inspired by traditional African pottery. The upper tier has been extended around the stadium to increase the capacity to 94700 ^[6] with an extra 99 Executive suites, an encircling roof has been constructed, new changing room facilities have been developed and new floodlights have been installed. The number of suites in this stadium has been increased to 195. The R1.5 billion ^[5] tender to upgrade the stadium was won by Grinaker-LTA.^[7] The construction was completed on Wednesday, 21 October 2009. The completion was marked by a huge celebration at the stadium. ^[8]

Construction work in progress at Soccer City in December 2008.

The outside of the stadium is designed to have the appearance of a calabash^[9], an African pot, the cladding on the outside is a mosaic of fire and earthen colours with a ring of lights running around the bottom of the structure, simulating fire underneath the pot. No spectator will be more than 100 metres (330ft) from the action and there are no restricted views in the stadium. ^[10]

The stands in Soccer City are articulated by ten black vertical lines; nine are aligned geographically with the nine other stadia involved in the 2010 World Cup, and a tenth line is aimed at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, which hosted the previous World Cup final in 2006. This represents the road to the final and it is hoped that after the World Cup, each goal scored at the stadium will be placed in pre-cast concrete panels on a podium so that the full history of the tournament’s scores can be seen for years to come. ^[11]

[edit] See also

• 2010 FIFA World Cup

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Media related to Soccer City at Wikimedia Commons
• Official Site
• Soccer City at the 2010 Communication Project
• FIFA 2010 sponsorship at FNB