‘BIRDS’ GET LUCAS MORIPE STADIUM AT REDUCED E45K

MBABANE – Strong ties beyond Eswatini’s borders has seen Mbabane Swallows getting a state-of-the-art stadium cheaper.

The city giants have secured the Lucas Moripe Stadium at reduced rates.With the country faced with the challenge of not having a Confederation of African Football (CAF) benchmarked stadium, Swallows turned to South Africa (SA) for assistance. The red and white outfit will represent Eswatini in the 2024/25 TotalEnergies Champions League. They are set to face Mozambique’s Clube Ferroviário da Beira in a two-legged first preliminary round encounter. The Caleb Ngwenya-led team will host their opponents at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium on August 17, at 7 pm.

This multi-purpose stadium, with a capacity of 28 900, is located in Atteridgeville, a suburb of Pretoria. It belongs to their potential second-round preliminary adversaries Mamelodi Sundowns. The Steve Komphela-led side came to the ‘Birds’ rescue when their bids to host at Mbombela and Orlando Stadiums hit a snag last month. This publication reported that Sundowns granted Swallows permission to use the Lucas Moripe Stadium. While the costs of the stadium hire were not disclosed, reports suggested that the charges were over E120 000, covering rental fees and related costs.

Swallows’ Governor Sandile ‘Beyond 2000’ Zwane, confirmed the latest developments and thanked Sundowns for the kind gesture.“Through working relations, we’re able to get favourable rates of E45 000, which might have been higher if it wasn’t for the established relations,” he said briefly on Thursday, during a press conference to shed some light on alleged leadership changes in the club.Notably, he left the same day to handle other logistics for the games. These included ticketing arrangements executed via Computicket.

Unpacking the cost, he said the fee, among other things, includes floodlights, cleaning, VIP area, captain session, marking and the stadium rate.He further mentioned that the CAF campaign remained a costly adventure. He stated that their hands were open to anybody or companies that wish to assist them with the financial burden of such matches.

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