Nomadic existence continues for Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch have fallen foul of the standards set by the Confederation of African Football for stadiums used in continental competition and will have to play their African Confederation Cup group games away from their home base.

The Danie Craven Stadium has been ruled unfit for international matches. It has not been used by Stellenbosch since their opening MTN8 quarterfinal clash against TS Galaxy in August because of the poor playing surface.

The Winelands club are competing in continental club competition for the first time this season and made it through to the pool phase of the Confederation Cup.

They started their group campaign with a 2-0 loss at Stade Malien in Bamako on Wednesday.

Their first home game is to be played at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday, December 8 when they take on group favourite Renaissance Berkane from Morocco.

The Moroccan club have won the competition twice in the past five years and last season were runners-up to Zamalek of Egypt in the final.

Stellenbosch’s second home game is to be played at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria against Desportivo Lunda-Sul of Angola on Sunday, January 5 and their last home fixture in Group B is against Stade Malien at the Cape Town Stadium on January 12.

They had hoped to use the Cape Town Stadium sooner but been stymied by the Rugby Sevens at the venue early in December and then two Stormers matches in the United Rugby Championship December 21 and December 28.

Stellenbosch are no strangers to a nomadic existence. This season they have used four different stadiums for home matches and in their first top flight campaign in 2019 played all their home games in Cape Town because of the lack of a venue in Stellenbosch.