The Dobsonville Stadium, formerly Volkswagen Dobsonville Stadium and also referred to as Dobsie Stadium, is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

, a suburb of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The venue is managed by Stadium Management SA (SMSA). It is mostly used for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

matches, but is also equipped with an athletics track. It is the home ground of

Moroka Swallows Moroka Swallows Football Club (often known as simply Swallows or The Birds) is a South African professional football club based in Soweto in the city of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province. Founded in 1947, Swallows are one of the original two ...

, a football club which played in the

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

until relegation at the end of the 2014–15 season. It was also utilised 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 ...

, after being renovated in 2009 and brought up to

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

standards. It also carries one of the best water drainage systems in the country. Dobsonville Stadium was originally built in 1975 with a capacity of 20,000 and can now accommodate 24,000 spectators, with improved facilities that include a media tribune, a press conference area, improved change rooms, gyms and a main stadium suite along with additional suite areas that can be utilised for corporate events and gatherings. Dobsonville was established as a playing field in 1957 when people from Roodepoort West were resettled in the area. There were a number of football grounds but the venue off Main Road was the most popular in that period. While it is always associated with legendary Soweto side, Moroka Swallows, who have the club's memorabilia and history inside the venue - Dobsie Stadium has hosted a number of international class events that include the 2009 African Youth (Under-20) Championship football tournament, the 2010 Gauteng Future Champs as well as a number of South African national football fixtures that include Banyana Banyana (the SA National Women's Football Team) and the SA National Men's Football Team's (Bafana Bafana) international fixture against Mauritius in their 2016 African Nations Championship qualifier in July 2015.

References

External links

Stadium Management South Africa

Photos of Stadiums in South Africa
a
cafe.daum.net/stade
Soccer venues in South Africa Buildings and structures in Soweto Sports venues in Johannesburg Multi-purpose stadiums in South Africa Athletics (track and field) venues in South Africa Moroka Swallows F.C. Sports venues completed in 1975 {{SouthAfrica-sports-venue-stub