South Africa stadiums gets CAF all clear

South Africa have had a total of 12 stadiums approved for use in this season’s African club competition with Athlone, Atteridgeville and the Free State Stadium added to the previous list.

South Africa has more stadiums for use in the both the African Champions League and the African Confederation Cup than any other country. Morocco has 10, Algeria seven and Egypt and the Ivory Coast six each.

Athlone Stadium (Cape Town), Cape Town Stadium, Free State Stadium (Bloemfontein), Loftus Versveld (Pretoria), Lucas Moripe Stadium (Pretoria), Mbombela Stadium (Nelspruit), Moses Mabhida Stadium (Durban), Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (Gqeberha), Orlando Stadium (Soweto), Peter Mokaba Stadium (Polokwane), Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace (Phokeng) and Soccer City are the 12 venues which meet the Confederation of African Football’s increasing stringent requirements.

Cape Town Stadium will be used on Friday when Stellenbosch host AS Vita Club from the Democratic Republic of Congo in the first leg of their Confederation Cup second round tie, while all the other three South African representatives play away this weekend.

For the return legs on September 21, Sekhukhune United will host Angola Desportivo Lunda-Sul at the Peter Mokaba Stadium.

In the Champions League second round, Mamelodi Sundowns will play in Atteridgeville and Pirates at the Orlando Stadium.

Countries which do not have any available stadia and cannot host club competition matches at home include neighbours Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe.