Nedbank Cup final first for Polokwane

The new Peter Mokaba Stadium will host the final match of the Nedbank Cup between Super Sport United and Orlando Pirates Football Club on 28 May, Premier Soccer League (PSL) acting Chief Executive Mato Madlala announced on Saturday.
He is quoted in a media statement to have said: “We are excited to be going to Peter Mokaba Stadium. After we hosted the 2010 Fifa World Cup we made a commitment to the football fraternity that we will do our best to utilise the venues that were built for the World Cup and to ensure they remain active. Also, we need to give the people from these areas an opportunity to watch cup final football.
“The visit to Polokwane is long overdue so we are glad that it has finally happened. We can’t wait for 28 May 2016 and I hope people from Polokwane and surrounding areas will pack the stadium. We have been often asked to take a final to that part of the world and we know that the response will be very positive. We would like to thank our sponsors Nedbank for their cooperation during the tournament and we look forward to what would be a spectacular affair in Polokwane,” the statement read.
The Peter Mokaba Stadium will be the eighth venue to host the Nedbank Cup final. Tobie Badenhorst, Head of Sponsorship and Cause Marketing at Nedbank is quoted to have said: “We are delighted to bring the Nedbank Cup final to the province of Limpopo for the first time in the history of this prestigious cup competition, the host city was selected as part of Nedbank’s commitment to take the Nedbank Cup final around the country, exposing the biggest knockout fixture in local football to fans across South Africa.”
Polokwane Executive Mayor Thembi Nkadimeng said they were excited to be chosen by the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to host the final. “We have since 2010 put in bids to host finals of various cup competitions hosted by the PSL. Most of these were not successful owing to circumstances determined by the PSL until this. It is the wish of the Polokwane Municipality to at least host the PSL cup final once in two years,” Nkadimeng said.
She also added that the opportunity allows the city to showcase itself and the great potential in growing the local economy. “Most accommodation establishments are occupied when these matches are hosted, local business grows through various people who visit. We have had a great relationship with the PSL wherein we have hosted up to 15 cup matches since 2010. In all that we demonstrated capacity to handle those events as well as encouraging soccer lovers to return to the stadium. We shall put all plans in place to encourage soccer lovers to fill stadiums to capacity and show that we are a force to be reckoned with. As a municipality this is fulfilling our constitutional mandate of building social cohesion through sport,” she concluded.

Featured Photo: Herbert Rachuene – Polokwane Executive Mayor Thembi Nkadimeng is excited that the new Peter Mokaba Stadium has been chosen by the Premier Soccer Leagued to host the 2016 final of the Nedbank Cup.

Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert@mailbox.co.za