Safa’s response to 168 tickets sold is plan to move Bafana games from Gauteng

The SA Football Association (Safa) is planning to take Bafana Bafana to KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape, where crowds for national team games are usually good, for their forthcoming matches.

Safa were embarrassed as Bafana played friendly matches against modest Sierra Leone and Botswana in front of a near-empty FNB Stadium during the recent Fifa week.

A pitiful 168 tickets were officially sold for the 4-0 win against Sierra Leone on September 24. Attendances were not much better as SA beat Botswana 1-0 on September 27. 

Bafana’s next home match is likely to be against Burkina Faso, who are ranked 10th in Africa, before taking on Uzbekistan in Dubai, both during the next Fifa international break in November.

If coach Hugo Broos does not get the friendly match against Burkina Faso or another team next month, then the next home match for SA will be the crucial 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Liberia in March.

“That is a possibility [moving Bafana to a different province] because we know that when we were playing in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) during the Cosafa Cup the stadium was full,” Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe said.

“KZN, Limpopo and Gqeberha have always produced decent crowds and we are looking at all those possibilities. In Gauteng it is not only Bafana [who suffer poor attendances] — even some of the big clubs are struggling to fill stadiums.”

Mpumalanga is another option as fans there have shown an appetite for high-profile matches of any sport as was evident during the Rugby Championship clash between the Springboks and New Zealand at a packed Mbombela Stadium in August.

Motlanthe said while it was concerning to see the dismal turnout at FNB Stadium for the September friendlies, he did not believe this was necessarily an indicator that SA fans are losing patience with the national team after two decades of underachievement.

“It was disappointing to see not many fans during the recent Bafana matches and that’s why we are looking at other venues. I wouldn’t necessarily call it apathy from the fans regarding Bafana because if you go to other places attendances are good.

“Bafana went to KZN and the stadium was full — it is for us to choose the right location and what we have learnt is that Gauteng and North West are bad for hosting national teams.”

SA need to win their back-to-back games against Liberia in March to reach next year's Nations Cup in Ivory Coast. 

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