Orlando Stadium
| Factory of Dreams | |
 |
|
| Location | Mooki St., Orlando East, Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 26°13′54.82″S 27°55′22.41″E / 26.2318944°S 27.9228917°ECoordinates: 26°13′54.82″S 27°55′22.41″E / 26.2318944°S 27.9228917°E |
| Owner | City of Johannesburg |
| Operator | Stadium Management South Africa |
| Capacity | 40 000 |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1959 |
| Renovated | 2008 |
| Construction cost | R280 million (2008 refurbishment) |
| Tenants | |
| Orlando Pirates | |
Orlando Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium, in Soweto, a suburb of Johannesburg, in Gauteng province in South Africa. It is home venue for Orlando Pirates Football Club, a professional soccer team, which plays in the Premier Soccer League
It is currently used mostly for football matches, as the home stadium of Orlando Pirates FC of the Premier Soccer League, and was intended to be utilized, as a training field, for teams participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup after it was completely rebuilt and reopened on 22 November 2008. In addition to the stadium capacity of 36,761 people, there is an auditorium for 200 people, 120 hospitality suites, a gymnasium and a conference centre.
The stadium was originally built for the Johannesburg Bantu Football Association and it had a seating capacity of 24,000 and cost £37,500 to construct. It was opened by the Minister for Bantu development, MC de Wet Nel, and Ian Maltz who was then Mayor of Johannesburg.
Although intended for football the stadium has been used for concerts by the Jazz musicians Molombo and by the O'Jays. Boxing matches were also staged including the 1975 victory of Elijah ‘Tap Tap' Makhathini over the world welterweight and middleweight champion Emile Griffith.
On 16 June 1976 thousands of black students marched to Orlando Stadium to protest at having to learn the Afrikaans language. It was intended to be a rally and although it was organised some of the students only joined the protest on the day. It was planned to be a peaceful protest by the Soweto Students’ Representative Council’s (SSRC) Action Committee. The marchers got as far as their last meeting point when the police and tear gas arrived. The day ended in deaths and this was the start of the Soweto Uprising.
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