The province has the privilege of hosting the African Cup of Nations opening game on the 19th of this month and the final game on the 10th February 2013.
Soccer fans are encouraged to make use of several facilities that have been identified for Park and Rides in order to avoid traffic congestion outside the stadium. These are WITS, Gold Reef City, Aeroton Cemetery, Constitutional Hill, Westgate and Shareworld. Prasa will provide trains the stadium. Commuters from Gautrain will use Rea Vaya busses.
Approximately 86,000 soccer lovers are expected to fill the stadium during the opening and the closing ceremonies. Gauteng MEC for Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Lebogang Maile says “As a Province will be supporting SAFA and Bafana Bafana in their preparation for the tournament, the last friendly match vs. Algeria this Saturday at Orlando Stadium will be a good platform to test our state of readiness”.
“A detailed plan of action in conjunction with the City of Johannesburg is already in motion to ensure a seamless and an incident free tournament. As we reach a 10 Day countdown to Africa cup of nations kick off this Wednesday, we call upon all South Africans to extend warm hospitality to thousands of guests who will be visiting our province during this celebration of African football.” says MEC Maile.
Following the agreement reached in line with the FIFA rule on the non-branding of stadia for FIFA tournaments, the host venue, FNB Stadium will be known as the National Stadium over the duration of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Public Viewing Areas will be operating throughout the tournament in various locations in Orange Farm, Diepsloot, Ivory Park, Diepkloof, Sedibeng, Tshwane and Merafong.
The Department will also give young aspiring football enthusiasts an opportunity to have access to their football icons that are based in their cities. In conjunction with SAFA Soweto, the Soweto Africa Cup of Nations Cup is adopting the 16 Nations Teams and playing out selected teams from across Soweto commencing on the 18th Jan – 9th Feb 2013.