Mbombela Stadium
| Africa's Wildest Stadium | |
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| Location | 1 Bafana Road, Nelspruit |
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| Coordinates | 25°27′40″S 30°55′44″E / 25.461°S 30.929°ECoordinates: 25°27′40″S 30°55′44″E / 25.461°S 30.929°E |
| Owner | Mbombela Local Municipality |
| Operator | Platinum Sport |
| Capacity | 40,929 |
| Surface | Rye grass & Desso GrassMaster |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | February 2007 |
| Opened | 15 October 2009 |
| Construction cost |
Rand 1.05 billion (US$ 140 million) |
| Architect | R&L Architects |
| Tenants | |
| Pumas (Currie Cup) (2010-present) | |
The Mbombela Stadium is an all-seater, 40,929-seat stadium and was one of the ten venues for the FIFA World Cup 2010. It is located on open land six kilometres west of Mbombela, South Africa, the capital of the Mpumalanga province.
The stadium has the same name as Nelspruit's new name. In October 2009, Nelspruit was officially renamed Mbombela by the South African government. However, FIFA's 2010 World Cup web site refers to the city as "Nelspruit."
The stadium is the centrepiece of a proposed wider sports precinct with athletics and cricket as well as other sporting codes.
The R1,050-million sports facility was ready for use well ahead of the June 2010 World Cup kickoff. The stadium was made possible through taxpayer funding.
Construction commenced in February 2007 and was completed in November 2009. The construction contract was awarded to a South African–French consortium of Basil Read Construction and Bouygues Construction.
The structure is founded on 1,500 piles on a 10m structural grid. Each roof support (in the shape of a giraffe) sits on 18 piles on the 30m major structural bay. The 10m span seating beams are prestressed and most of the 3,170 units were pre-cast on site.
The project was subjected to numerous wildcat strikes. With the 5th and final strike, all main contract labourers were dismissed. All subsequent work was performed by subcontractors.
During a freak storm in January 2009, a tower crane blew over and cut through the partially completed roof. The site was unoccupied at the time and there were no injuries. The construction required a total of 5.5 million man-hours to complete.
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