FNB Stadium

The stadium opened in 1989 as the First National Bank Stadium, still carries that name officially, was rebranded Soccer City for FIFA tournaments including the 2010 World Cup, and locals still call it The Calabash, after the gourd its curved façade is meant to recall.

The 2010 tournament is what shaped the building as it stands now. Between 2006 and 2009 the original bowl was stripped down to two new tiers, a membrane roof and that calabash-patterned skin, a reconstruction contract worth 1.5 billion rand carried out by Boogertman + Partners with Populous and SBP. It hosted both the opening match and the final that July, and it had already staged a continental final once before, the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations decider between South Africa and Tunisia, before doing so again in 2013.

What keeps the ground loudest is the Soweto derby. Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates drew the official attendance record here, 94,807, on 1 August 2015, a number the 94,736 capacity itself barely explains — FNB has simply pulled in more people than its own seats on record. Bafana Bafana and the Springboks both use it as a home ground alongside Chiefs, so rugby and football trade off a pitch that has taken its share of criticism for wear in recent seasons.

Beyond football it has carried weight of a different kind. Nelson Mandela's memorial service was held here on 10 December 2013, and over the years the stadium has doubled as one of Johannesburg's largest concert venues, drawing Madonna, U2, Lady Gaga, Coldplay and Beyoncé and Jay-Z among others.