The Mbombela Stadium is situated on the outskirts of the beautiful lowveld city of Nelspruit, less than an hour away from one of the world's greatest game reserves, the Kruger National Park.
History of the venue
The venue, nicknamed the 'Giraffe Stadium' due to the 18 roof supports that resemble that animal, is a brand new stadium, custom built for the 2010 World Cup. The original site of the stadium housed a school, which was forced to be relocated following the decision to use this prime location for the stadium.
Construction started in February 2007 and the seats of the stadium are designed to look like zebra skins, bringing a true bushveld feel to this magnificent stadium that houses just over 46,000 at full capacity.
Usage during the 2013 AFCON
Zambia v Ethiopia January 21, 17:00
Nigeria v Burkina Faso January 21, 20:00
Zambia v Nigeria January 25, 17:00
Burkina Faso v Ethiopia January 25, 20:00
Burkina Faso v Zambia January 29, 19:00
Togo v Tunisia January 30, 19:00
Winner Group C v Runner-up Group D
February 3, 20:30
Semi-final 2
February 6, 20:30
How to get there
Two airports serve Nelspruit and they are Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport to the east and the general aviation Nelspruit Airport. The former's moniker is somewhat misleading as the only international flights fly to and from Mozambique.
If arriving from abroad, visitors will have to jet into Johannesburg's OR Tambo International and then drive just over 300km to Nelspruit, but beware that toll fees will have to be paid on this route. Internally, South African Airways operates regular flights from Cape Town to Kruger Mpumalanga Airport but none of the low-cost airlines offer any service to this part of the country.
The primary road route to Nelspruit heads northwards on the N4 while Spoornet operates regular trains from Johannesburg via Middelburg, Witbank and Pretoria and to Komatipoort on the Mozambique border.
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