| Full name | Xerox Nelson Mandela University Sports Stadium |
|---|---|
| Former names | University of Port Elizabeth Stadium Mecer Stadium [1] |
| Location | Marine Drive Summerstrand Port Elizabeth South Africa |
| Coordinates | 34°00′32″S25°40′45″E / 34.008936°S 25.679037°E Coordinates: 34°00′32″S25°40′45″E / 34.008936°S 25.679037°E |
| Owner | Nelson Mandela University |
| Operator | Nelson Mandela University |
| Capacity | 15, 000 [2] |
| Surface | Grass and athletics track |
| Tenants | |
| Nelson Mandela University Madibaz Soccer Nelson Mandela University Madibaz Rugby Nelson Mandela University Madibaz Athletics | |
Nelson Mandela University Sports Stadium currently referred to as Xerox Stadium, due to a naming rights deal, and commonly referred to as Madibaz Stadium, is an athletics stadium in Protea Road, on the South Campus of Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. [3]
Nelson Mandela University (NMU), formerly known as University of Port Elizabeth (UPE), is a South African university with its main administration in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth. Nelson Mandela University was founded through a merger of three institutions in January 2005, but its history dates back to 1882, with the foundation of the Port Elizabeth Art School.
Port Elizabeth or The Bay is one of the major cities in South Africa; it is situated in the Eastern Cape Province, 770 km (478 mi) east of Cape Town. The city, often shortened to PE and nicknamed "The Windy City", stretches for 16 km along Algoa Bay, and is one of the major seaports in South Africa. Port Elizabeth is the southernmost large city on the African continent, just farther south than Cape Town. Port Elizabeth was founded as a town in 1820 to house British settlers as a way of strengthening the border region between the Cape Colony and the Xhosa. It now forms part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, which has a population of over 1.3 million.
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini (Swaziland); and it surrounds the enclaved country of Lesotho. South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa and the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and, with over 57 million people, is the world's 24th-most populous nation. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages, nine of which have official status. The remaining population consists of Africa's largest communities of European (White), Asian (Indian), and multiracial (Coloured) ancestry.
The stadium hosts Nelson Mandela University Madibaz Rugby home matches, including Varsity Cup matches. It also hosts Nelson Mandela University Madibaz Soccer matches during Varsity Football, and athletics meetings.
Varsity Rugby is the collective name for four South African rugby union competitions involving the top rugby playing universities in the country. It was launched in 2008, with eight teams participating in the Varsity Cup competition and each university's internal champions competing in the Koshuis Rugby Championships. In 2011, a second tier competition called the Varsity Shield was added, increasing the number of participating universities to thirteen. A Young Guns tournament for the Under-20 side of the Varsity Cup teams was launched in 2012. A further expansion for the 2017 season saw three additional universities added to the Varsity Shield, totalling sixteen teams.
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University F.C. is as an association football club representing the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The club was brought to its current form in 2005, through mergers of three football clubs. NMMU's previous institutions had football clubs at the University of Port Elizabeth, Port Elizabeth Technikon and Vista University's Port Elizabeth.
The 2013 Varsity Football challenge was the first season of a South African university association football competition. It involved some of the top football playing universities in the country, which belong to the University Sports Company. The tournament is run by Varsity Sports South Africa, and is endorsed by the South African Football Association and University Sport South Africa.
The stadium was used as a training facility during the 2010 FIFA World Cup [4] and 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. [5]
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. The bidding process for hosting the tournament finals was open only to African nations. In 2004, the international football federation, FIFA, selected South Africa over Egypt and Morocco to become the first African nation to host the finals.
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 by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Starting from this edition, the tournament was switched to being held in odd-numbered years instead of even-numbered years so that it does not clash with the FIFA World Cup.
