This marvellous stadium is one of the largest sports venues in South Africa and is located in Nasrec, Johannesburg, South Africa. The stadium can seat up to 87,436 people and stands out for its architectural uniqueness.
One reason why the stadium stands out, despite its massive size, is the unique design it is known for internationally. Many people often refer to it as the Calabash or the African Pot. This was due to the stadium being reconstructed into a shape of a perfect pot or bowl before the first ever African World Cup in 2010, which cost a whopping 3.3 billion.
History and Events
The FBN Stadium was previously known as Soccer City. It has been in the centre of an array of historical events, such as being the location of the first speech by the former present Nelson Mandela in 1990 only after a few days after he was released from prison after serving 27 years.
Other than hosting an array of influential speakers, the stadium has seen its fair share of other events, such as sporting events and concerts. One major event that the stadium hosted was the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, including the final match of that season’s competition. Another significant event that was hosted was the 2013 African Cup of Nationals final where the opening game, along with the final, was played there.
Though other events have taken place at the stadium such as football and rugby, most of the matches held at this stadium featured a crowd that filled more than half of the 87,436 seats. One interesting fact is that the stadium broke the record of having the most amount of people to attend a rugby game, 94,713 to be exact, during the Tri Nations match in 2010 between South Africa and New Zealand.
Other popular events that are hosted at the stadium are an array of concerts that started in 2001 and are still going on now. A few on the most sold out concerts were U2 with a 94,232 people attending, One Direction that visited two days back to back and had a total of 131,616 people attending, along with Cassper Nyovest with a total attendance of 68,000 people in 2017.
Incidents
The only negative incident that happened in the history of the stadiums opening was the accidental deaths and injuries caused by a random and unsuspected stadium crush. As patrons were entering the stadium on July 29 for a match between the Orlando Pirates and the Kaizer Chiefs, the infrastructure buckled and caused two people to perish while 17 others were injured. Since this incident, the stadium has gone through regular checks to ensure this event won’t happen again.
However, since the opening of the stadium, there has been no vocal outrage against it still standing. Currently, there are no events that are going to be hosted by the stadium in the upcoming months.