How Thohoyandou Stadium missed out on hosting Bafana Bafana
Thohoyandou Stadium in Limpopo was one of the venues suggested for the current Bafana Bafana international friendly matches. FARPost has gathered that SAFA Limpopo had recommended two venues, Peter Mokaba and Thohoyandou for the friendly matches against Namibia and DR Congo.
The SAFA provincial structure had raised its hand to host but couldn’t reach an agreement with the Limpopo Department of Sport, Arts, and Culture. Some of the costs included flying and accommodating the teams to the province, which was one of the stumbling blocks.
SAFA ended up taking the games to Orlando Stadium in Gauteng. Bafana played to a 0-0 draw against Namibia in front of a poor crowd. They are set to host DR Congo at the same venue on Tuesday.
THOHOYANDOU STADIUM FIT TO HOST INTERNATIONAL MATCHES?
This publication has it on good authority that the provincial SAFA leaders wanted the match against Namibia in Thohoyandou and the DR Congo match at Peter Mokaba. However, the lack of commitment by the provincial government was a stumbling block for what would have been a historic occasion. The Thohoyandou Stadium has never hosted an international match but is approved for PSL matches.
Prior to Banyana Banyana playing their FIFA World Cup farewell match at Tsakane Stadium, this publication has also established that the province had also raised its hand to host the match in Thohoyandou. The Thulamela Municipality had also reportedly shown interest, but there was no commitment from the Provincial government.
LIMPOPO STILL KEEN ON HOSTING BAFANA BAFANA
This publication has gathered that talks are ongoing between the local SAFA leadership and the Department of Sport to consider hosting future international matches. This includes the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Bafana Bafana are in Group C of the qualifiers alongside Benin, Rwanda, Lesotho, Nigeria and neighbours Zimbabwe. They will begin their qualifying campaign in November.
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