Nelson Mandela Stadium – Port Elizabeth (SA)

A friendly meeting of cultures

Let’s launch something completely new. In Port Elizabeth, the largest city of the South African province of Eastern Cape, there has never been a football stadium. Those involved in the few international meetings that have taken place here had to satisfy themselves with the local rugby stadium. The province is the poorest of the country; its greatest treasure is its undisturbed expanse of natural landscape, with steppes, forests and nature reserves, as well as the immaculate beaches of Nelson Mandela Bay, which are well known to surfers. Besides Port Elizabeth, the bay also encompasses the cities Uitenhage and Despatch. In this popular aquatic sports region of South Africa, lawn sport will also make an appearance in 2010. Just in time for the Football World Cup, HBM Sportstättenbau, as an affiliated company of Interbeton, will provide its stadium expertise and support the working group Interbeton / Grinaker LTA in constructing a modern multi-functional stadium encompassing five tiers and some 48,000 seats. And these figures make it the first world class football stadium in the entire province. A novelty. At the time of the Apartheid regime, projects of this kind were only conceivable for the rugby league. The stadium will be equipped with 150 VIP boxes, 60 business boxes, a shop for sports clothing, a gymnasium and 500 parking spots, as well as with seminar and functional rooms. The investment volume for the new construction located in the midst of the fifth-largest city of the country amounts to approximately 120 million euros. Both first and second round games will soon inspire the South Africans and their international guests. Incidentally, for the latter, the airport will soon be extended, so that intercontinental flights can land here without previous stopovers. And the name for the stadium has also been announced. Since national hero Nelson Mandela was born here in Eastern Cape, and Port Elizabeth has always been a stronghold for regime opponents of the intelligentsia, not only will the bay carry his name, but also the new arena. And who knows, perhaps Mandela himself, who will be over 90 at the time of the World Cup opening celebration, will still be able to enjoy a few friendly encounters between people of different cultures and skin colours—in a building whose existence alone is a symbol for the new South Africa.