Moses Mabhida Stadium on track for 25 000 tickets for MTN final

A decent crowd of over 25 000 is what the management at Moses Mabhida Stadium expects on Saturday evening when SuperSport United tackle Cape Town City in the MTN8 final.

Vusi Mazibuko‚ the manager of the Durban venue‚ said by Tuesday they had sold just under 10 000 tickets and were expecting more to be snatched up closer to match day (kickoff: 7pm).

“We are very confident of reaching 25 000‚” said Mazibuko of their target for the stadium that accommodates 56 000 fans.

“We know that 60% of our supporters have this culture of buying tickets on the day of the match. So we are banking a lot on that and the fact that some people will only get paid on the 13th (Friday).

“We are doing everything we can to encourage the fans to buy their tickets early.

“The gates will be opened at 4pm and the PSL will provide entertainment which should include a lot of Gqom music with the likes of Babes Wodumo forming part of the acts.”

Mazibuko also allayed fears about the state of the pitch following Tuesday’s storm and heavy downpour in Durban‚ which took no less than 10 lives and destroyed much infrastructure in and around the city.

“Fortunately we have one of the greatest drainage systems in the stadium and it has helped a lot preserving the condition of the pitch in situations like the one we had on Tuesday‚” he said.

“The pitch is now looking immaculate and we don’t expect a heavy downpour before the match. We also hope that there will be no more rain that we can’t manage during the match‚ but the weather forecast for the weekend is very good.”

SuperSport coach Eric Tinkler commented on the weather and possible condition of the pitch after Tuesday's downpour.

“I think the weather conditions shouldn’t be the issue for us because we’ve been facing similar scenarios in some of our matches here in Gauteng. So I don’t think that’s a major factor for us‚” he said.