Jozi puts up cash for World Cup qualifier
SA WILL PLAY BURKINA FASO AT SOCCER CITY ON 7 OCTOBER
Johannesburg is to host South Africa’s next World Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso on 7 October because its city council has finally joined in the bidding for top matches and will pay the majority of the costs of the game.
It is a return after three and a half years to Soccer City for Bafana Bafana, who have played most of their major recent competitive matches at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, where the city council has paid the South African Football Association for the rights to host the matches.
This includes hotel costs, all the security and local transportation and the stadium costs.
Other cities like Cape Town and Polokwane have intermittently also put their hands up, but there has been no match at Soccer City since March 2014 when Bafana Bafana were handed a 5-0 bruising in a friendly by Brazil.
It makes South Africa a country where its national stadium is not frequently used.
But the change comes now after the Jozi council agreed to cough up some of the costs. “They have finally come to the party,” a SAFA staff member told Sowetan.
Costs for Bafana matches exceed R1 million per game. It is not only the extensive hotel bills, but also all the security arrangements, plus the hire of buses and training facilities for teams.
It makes the cost of competing in qualifiers for competitions like the African Nations Cup and the World Cup onerous for the association and has led the cash-strapped organisation into a policy of handing hosting of Bafana home games to the highest bidder.
Johannesburg will give the South African national team a potential advantage as visiting sides often find the high altitude impacts them negatively.
The match against Burkina Faso is a must win for Bafana Bafana if they are to have any chance of qualifying for the World Cup in Russia next year.