Stadium "Cape Town"
The Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa is a newly built stadium for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. During the planning stage it was known as the Green Point Stadium, which was the name of the previous stadium on the site.
The stadium is located in Green Point, between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, close to the Cape Town city centre and to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, a popular tourist and shopping venue. The stadium will have a capacity of 68,000. The stadium is connected to the waterfront by a new road connection, Granger Bay Boulevard, and will be surrounded by a 60 hectare urban park.
Design
Construction of the Cape Town Stadium, located on the Green Point Common between the twin icons of Table Mountain and Robben Island, began in March 2007. In just 33 months, joint contractors Murray & Roberts and WBHO completed the massive project at a cost of R4,4-billion – or approximately US$600-million. The project architects were an association between GMP Architects of Germany and two local firms, Louis Karol and Associates and Point Architects. The stadium itself has 750 rooms and 3 000 doors. About 2 500 construction workers were employed in the building of the stadium and 1 200 artisans received training from the contractors.
The stadium, which has an exterior that is covered with noise-reducing cladding has a capacity of 68,000 and was completed in December 2009. The Green Point Common, on which the new stadium is being built, was originally much larger than what now remains, and included most of the land between the sea and Signal Hill, stretching from the city centre towards Sea Point.
Inaugural Games
The first game to be hosted at the new Cape Town Stadium was a Cape Town derby between Ajax Cape Town and Santos on the 23 January 2010 as part of the official inauguration of the stadium. Only 20,000 tickets were made available for the event and were sold out by Friday 15 January 2010. The Soccer Festival had entertainment from local band Freshlyground and a Vuvuzela orchestra performance during half time.
