Mbombela Stadium: a compact arena with giraffe-like roof supports

The Mbombela Stadium is a football and Rugby union all-seater stadium in Mbombela in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. It was one of 10 venues for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and one of 5 newly constructed stadiums for the tournament. It is the home ground to the soccer team TS Galaxy and the Pumas rugby team. The stadium has a seating capacity of 43,500, almost all under roof.

Located 6 kilometres west of Mbombela, the stadium is the largest venue in the province. Construction commenced in February 2007 and was completed in November 2009 by a South African - French consortium. The design reflects its inter-relation with the nearby Kruger National Park, with 18 roof supports that resemble giraffes. The seats are patterned with zebra stripes, and visitors can easily add a side-trip to the game reserve.

The bowl design aimed to put every seat as close as practical to the field action. The pitch was the cause of great concern and some ridicule 5 months before the World Cup, but its perfect performance in its first real test on 16 May 2010 silenced the critics. Following a pitch failure in 2013 during the African Cup of Nations, summer cynodon is now grown to provide a robust and dependable surface during the hot climate.

Although allegations of corruption relating to the awarding of construction contracts plagued the project, the stadium stands out as being the lowest-cost new 2010 stadium by a large margin and has the highest ratio of seats under roof.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons