Ellis Park

Ellis Park Stadium, known for sponsorship reasons as Coca-Cola Park following a ZAR 450 million (USD 58 million/£30 million) naming rights deal with The Coca-Cola Company in 2008, is a rugby union stadium in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It hosted the Rugby World Cup final in 1995, which was won by the country’s national team, the Springboks. The large stadium was the country’s most modern when it was upgraded in 1982 to accommodate almost 60,000 people. Today, the stadium hosts both football and rugby, and is also used as a venue for other large events, such as open-air concerts. It has become synonymous with rugby as the only time when rugby was not played at Ellis Park was during 1980 and 1981 when the stadium was under construction during an upgrade.

The stadium was formerly named after Mr J.D. Ellis who made the area for the stadium available.

League, provincial, and international games have all been played at the stadium, and it has seen such teams as Brazil, Manchester United and Arsenal play. Ellis Park Stadium is the centerpiece of a sporting sector in the south-east of Johannesburg, where it neighbours Johannesburg Stadium (athletics), Standard Bank Stadium (tennis), and an Olympic-class swimming pool.

Coca-Cola Park is home to the following teams:

* Orlando Pirates, (Premier Soccer League)
* Lions (Cats until September 2006), Super 14 Southern Hemisphere rugby competition
* Golden Lions, Currie Cup domestic rugby competition

Cricket matches were held at the stadium in the past. It hosted six Test matches between 1948 and 1954, but it has not been used for first-class cricket since New Wanderers Stadium opened in 1956 and is now used only for rugby and soccer.

2010 FIFA World Cup

Coca-Cola Park will host five group games, one second round game and one quarter-final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, for which its capacity will be increased by 5,000 seats on the northern side only, to 65,000. Areas like the Presidential suite are already receiving a facelift. There will also be a hospitality room and new changing rooms. The total cost of renovations is R500 million and will be complete in June 2008, 2 years before the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Unlike most other 2010 FIFA World Cup venues, it will likely be able to use its commercial name during the World Cup. FIFA controls all naming rights associated with the World Cup, which means that stadiums generally cannot use commercial names during the competition; however, The Coca-Cola Company is a major FIFA sponsor.

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

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Orlando Pirates FC official website
Kaizer Chiefs FC official website
Premier Soccer League official website
Confederation Africain de Football
FIFA
wikipedia entry

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