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Royal Bafokeng Stadium is the universal stadium in Phocheng city, a suburb of Rustenburg, South Africa, with a capacity of 38,000 spectators designed for such sports as rugby as well as classic football, and athletics competitions. Located 12 kilometers from the center of Rustenburg, 30 minutes from Pilanesberg and 1.5 hours from Johannesburg.
The Royal Bafokeng is named after the South African people Bafokeng, on whose lands it is built.
The stadium is located just twenty minutes from the “African Las Vegas” – Sun City and half an hour from the famous Pilansberg’s Nature Reserve in the Northwestern province of South Africa.
For the 2010 World Cup football matches, the stadium was reconstructed. At the same time, four thousand people were added to the capacity of the stadium, new scoreboards were installed, lighting was improved, and a roof over one of the stands was built.
History
Originally intended as an arena for the 1995 Rugby World Cup but it was only opened in 1999.
After the construction, it was used to a greater extent for football matches. The South African national football team in 2001 held a qualifying match against the Burkina Faso national team at Royal Bafokeng, which won 2-1. The arena has repeatedly hosted the games of the South African Football Premier League, despite the fact that Rustenburg has no own team.
In winter 2013, the stadium hosted 7 matches of the African Nations Cup in 2013.
Reconstruction
The stadium was chosen for the 2010 World Cup matches: 4 meetings of the first group and 2 matches of the second group. During the reconstruction, completed in March 2009, the capacity of the arena has been increased from 38,000 to 42,000 seats. The western tribune has been expanded (a few new rows of seats on the second tier have been added, a roof has been installed), which cost $45,000,000, and new electronic displays have been installed and a lighting system has been updated. As a result, the stadium is ready to host 4 games of the Confederations Cup 2009. The stadium also hosted seven matches in the framework of the African Nations Cup 2013.