Polokwane the latest city to benefit from hosting neighbouring countries

Since CAF started implementing these standards in 2020, a number of SA cities, particularly those with the 2010 FIFA World Cup venues, have hosted several countries from the Southern African region, where they are struggling to have home venues that meet these standards.

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Zimbabwe, who have been hosting some of their matches at Orlando stadium, will play against Kenya at the Peter Mokaba stadium tomorrow, and Polokwane Mayor John Mpe is proud of the good work they have done.

''It means confidence in us. Our ability to maintain our own facilities and you can see where we are, it looks beautiful. It shows our ability to maintain our stadium, to keep it at the highest level. As you know with some of the clubs, it is because FIFA did not approve their facilities. But this is a world class facility, maintained by our hard working employees. We are proud to be the hosts, and we believe that many other big events, including rugby - should be held at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium,'' said Mpe.

Next Tuesday, the match venue will also host yet another Group J game, when Kenya, who also currently have no stadia approved back home, hosts Namibia in the final qualifier.

The stadium is also popular for having arguably the best pitch in the country, and Mpe says this comes with a lot of investment they have made in their infrastructure.

''Our facilities are world class and this is an indication and a show of confidence across Africa that the New Peter Mokaba Stadium and other facilities that we have are world class facilities. But we also want to mention that we have upgraded some of our tennis courts, and they are meeting international stands, and everyone is commending us for that,'' added Mpe.

Johannesburg, Pretoria, Mbombela, Durban, Bloemfontein are just some of the cities that have been hosting neighbouring countries that don’t have stadia meeting CAF and FIFA standards.

Limpopo is also the closest province to Botswana; hosting their home matches also means that there would be more Zimbabweans who can come in and out to watch these games, and the province's economy would also benefit from these tourism spin-offs.

Mpe says one of their targets now is to get the in-demand Bafana Bafana games.

''Yes, we are looking at negotiating with SAFA, but also to host Bafana Bafana at the stadium. The people of Polokwane are sports loving people and we know that they will fill up the stadium should we react to an agreement with SAFA to bring Bafana Bafana, or react an agreement with the South African Rugby Union to bring the Springboks - we know the stadium will be full. We are confident that all these things will happen,'' he expressed.

Mpe has also used this opportunity to congratulate Magesi FC, who will be playing in their first cup final in topflight football, hardly five months inside this level of football in the country. Magesi, who are based in Polokwane play Mamelodi Sundowns in the Carling Knockout final next weekend in Bloemfontein.