Situated at the foot of Table Mountain and on the shores
of the Atlantic Ocean, Cape Town’s Soccer World Cup Stadium hosted it first game on Saturday 23rd January 2010.
The final construction cost of building the stadium, R4,45-billion, was much more than originally budgeted for the building of the 68 000-seater arena stadium but it has provided a much needed platform for Cape Town authorities to launch a massive R12-billion infrastructure improvement program to upgrade transport and other facilities in the city.
The city’s top two teams, Ajax Cape Town & Santos, played it out at Greenpoint Stadium as a crowd of around 20 000 fans gathered for the game. Among the fans was the Mayor Dan Plato and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille. At the blessing of the stadium, South Africa’s famous band, Freshly Ground, performed and the crowd went wild proudly blowing their vuvuzela’s.
Security was tight with 1000 police officers on duty checking bags and using sniffer dogs. Fans used a park-and-ride system to take buses from the city centre to the stadium and everything ran smoothly with no incidents reported.
The goalless game ended in a penalty shootout with Santos winning the inaugural Soccer Festival Trophy.
The stadium will host several matches, including a semi-final, when the first World Cup to be played on the African continent begins in June this year.
