Gelvandale Stadium is a multi-use stadium located in
Port Elizabeth,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
. The stadium is equipped with an athletics track, football pitch and floodlights. It is currently used mostly as a community sports ground, and by local amateur football club Swallows.
It is currently used as a part-time home ground for
East London based
National First Division
The National First Division (NFD), officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African club football after the South African Premier Division. Both the NFD and South Afr ...
side,
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
. The stadium was previously used for professional
football matches, as the home ground of National First Division club,
Bay United. After the relocation of Bay United, it was used as the home ground of
Bay Stars in the
SAFA Second Division
The ABC Motsepe League, previously known as the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the current Second Division and the overall third tier of South African football. The competition is regulated by SAFA, and until 2012 ...
.
It was also utilized as a training field for teams participating in the
2010 FIFA World Cup
, image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg
, size = 200px
, caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
and
2013 Africa Cup of Nations
The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized ...
, after being built and opened in March 2010.
It was one of
Port Elizabeth's two training venues, along with the
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Stadium. These training venues were used by World Cup participants for practices, practice matches and other training, before their games at the city's
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is a soccer and rugby union stadium in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa, It hosted 2010 FIFA World Cup matches and the third place play off. It is the home of Chippa United Football Club and formerly of r ...
.
References
Soccer venues in South Africa
Sports venues in the Eastern Cape
Sport in Port Elizabeth
Buildings and structures in Port Elizabeth
Multi-purpose stadiums in South Africa
Athletics (track and field) venues in South Africa
Sports venues completed in 2010
21st-century architecture in South Africa
{{SouthAfrica-sports-venue-stub