Betway Premiership side Orbit College FC have revealed that Gqeberha’s Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium was not their first choice for their upcoming clash against Kaizer Chiefs, having initially explored venues in Soweto and Polokwane before settling on the Eastern Cape.
The Premiership newbies host their home matches at Olympia Park in Rustenburg. They also have the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, the 2010 FIFA World Cup facility, as their alternative venue. However, the stadium is still going through renovations.
As a result, Orbit College was also forced to play their home recent game against Mamelodi Sundowns in the league at Olympia Park.
But following significant security and compliance challenges during their last high-profile encounter, Orbit College FC have been forced to relocate their upcoming clash against Chiefs. The decision comes after the previous venue was deemed a critical risk for Category A matches due to overwhelming spectator numbers. The two sides are now set to meet at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on April 6, 2026, at 15:00.
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General Manager at Orbit Matome Kganakga says they understand the frustrations voiced by their loyal supporters in Rustenburg over the decision, but they had no choice.
“It’s understandable that when the team got promoted, people were looking forward to seeing their favourite players from the top clubs in the country,” Kganakga told FARPost.
“Seeing that what they have been looking forward to is not happening will bring a lot of frustration. The unfortunate part is that the situation is something that we can’t avoid as a club, especially when the league has raised concerns regarding the stadium capacity and security management systems attached to the stadium [Olympia Park].
“The decision was taken post the Mamelodi Sundowns fixture. That was also informed by the league’s instructions.
“If you check our original fixtures for the 2025/26 season, Mamelodi Sundowns, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates were supposed to be hosted at Royal Bafokeng Stadium. But due to the unavailability of the facility, we had to move.”
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“We did consider going to Dobsonville Stadium, and we also considered Polokwane at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, which we did not win. We did not even try FNB Stadium because of the cost implications,” he added.
“Dobsonville, we had already booked and reached a primary agreement, but unfortunately, due to the capacity of the stadium [24,000], we had to cancel.
“The agency did get a response. They [Polokwane Municipality] did not give us any update to say what Polokwane says. So, based on the time we needed to respond, and again, Kaizer Chiefs deserved to be informed on time to plan properly for their travelling. So Nelson Mandela Bay came through.”
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