The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) is offering over 2000 additional beds to fans during the Fifa World Cup and will host two teams during the tournament.With both South Afric , who will train at the University’s Sturrock Park, and the Netherlands National Football team choosing the Wits grounds as their base for the tournament, the university will play a key role during the month-long spectacle.
It is a privilege and an honour for Wits University to welcome our national soccer team to Sturrock Park. We are proud of Bafana Bafana and look forward to hosting them at Wits which will serve as their home for the next few months, said Prof. Loyiso Nongxa, Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal.
The Dutch football team will be training nearby at the Clever Boys Stadium. The stadium is named after the Wits University Football Club (Bidvest Wits) the only tertiary institution Premier League football side in the country who were nicknamed The Clever Boys because of the club’s close affiliation with the university. The Wits community is ecstatic to have the Dutch team train on campus, and the excitement is mounting as we count down to the start of the tournament, added Wits University spokesperson Shirona Patel.
Meanwhile, hosting Bafana Bafana and The Netherlands is a legacy programme that will benefit the university for years to come, said Stan Whiting, CEO of the Wits Football Club.
In addition to these facilities, the World Coach project, a programme that will be delivering new coaches into the current South African Football Association structures, will also be housed at the Sturrock Park football centre.
The university has a total of seventeen residencies on its six campuses, of which eight will be made available for visitors coming to South Africa for the tournament, totalling 2 200 beds. Aside from the visitor accommodation the university has also handed over one of its residencies to the South African Police Service to be used to house the greater number of police personnel stationed in the city.
In order to accommodate the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the university has decided to coincide the mid-year study break with the tournament.
Post published in: Zimbabwe Sports News