Cape Town Stadium: The Venue for the 2022 Sevens World Cup

The 2022 Sevens World Cup will be hosted in the shadow of Table Mountain at Cape Town Stadium.

The 55,000-seater venue was built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and has staged the South Africa leg of the Sevens World Series since 2015. All three test matches of the 2021 Lions tour were also played there behind closed doors.

It is currently the home of United Rugby Championship side the Stormers, regional rugby team Western Province and top-flight football club Cape Town City.

The ground was awarded the Sevens World Cup in October 2019, making it the first African stadium to host it and, after two years of significantly reduced capacity, South Africa Rugby expects full crowds for the tournament.

It was opened in 2009 next to Green Point Stadium, which has been converted into an athletics facility. The new venue is informally referred to as ‘Green Point’.

It hosted eight matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, including a quarter-final, a semi-final, and England’s infamous 0-0 draw with Algeria.

The first rugby match was held in February 2010, as the Stormers defeated a Boland Invitational XV 47-13.

And the inaugural South African Sevens tournament at the stadium came in December 2015, with a home title delighting the local fans.

Indeed, the Blitzboks have always performed well there, never finishing worse than third in five tournaments.

Exhibition tennis matches have involving Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been held at the stadium, as have a number of concerts featuring the likes of Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran and Bon Jovi.

However, since the World Cup, the building of the stadium has been criticised. Some politicians have claimed it is not utilised enough to justify its maintenance costs.

In 2012, anti-arms dealer and activist Terry Crawford-Browne said that FIFA forced organisers to build the stadium and that it should be demolished. “It failed the constitutional requirement and was rammed down Cape Town’s throat,” he added to Cape Argus.

The arrival of the Stormers and Western Province in 2021 has given Cape Town Stadium more sports fixtures.

The teams previously played at iconic rugby stadium Newlands, but needed a new home after that ground was demolished last year.

With the city’s traditional spiritual rugby home now consigned to history, Cape Town Stadium is poised to build its own legacy, and the Sevens World Cup will be at the heart of that.

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