Polokwane municipality mayor John Mpe has confirmed that the New Peter Mokaba Stadium will host Bafana Bafana’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Lesotho.
The two Southern neighbours are scheduled to meet in Group C on 17 March 2025. South Africa occupies second spot in the group, tied on seven points with Rwanda in pole position and Benin in third, from four matches.
Lesotho is fourth with five points from the same number of games. The last time the senior national team played in Limpopo was during the tenure of Ephraim ‘Shakes’ Mashaba.
Meanwhile, Mpe gave an assurance that the 2010 World Cup venue will be ready in time for this clash, following a temporary closure as the municipality fixes the damage caused by the music concert of singer Makhadzi.
“We have already announced that we got a confirmation from the South African Football Association (SAFA) that we will host an international game between Bafana-Bafana and Lesotho,” said Mpe.
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“It’s the World Cup qualifying games so it is confirmed. The new Peter Mokaba Stadium will be ready by that time. We are just busy making sure that in the next few weeks we will make some announcement about the progress we’ve made.
“In fact they have requested me to go and see that the grass has started growing and everything is going according to plan so it will be ready for the international game.”
The mayor added that he hopes Bafana’s game will be the first of many major matches to be hosted at the facility, as they are also working on securing one of the national team’s international friendlies and also targeting domestic Cup finals.
“Firstly, we are in discussions with SAFA about one friendly game particularly between South Africa and Cameron that they are planning,” added Mpe.
“That if it’s possible for us we’ll be very happy to host Bafana Bafana more, but also to host other games and if we are able to host the Springboks in the rugby side.
“The finals, we are also discussing with the PSL about the final of the Nedbank Cup. We will make an announcement very soon because we believe that we have demonstrated our abilities, our capacity and our love for the beautiful game as Polokwane. So, we are just looking to finalise with them and then we’ll take it from there.
“I think the people of Polokwane; the people of Limpopo have been so supportive. We thank them and I think they deserve a Cup final in their own city.”