Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs will face off in the Soweto Derby on Saturday at the FNB Stadium in front of a capacity crowd. All of the tickets made available have been sold, Stadium Management SA confirmed that there won’t be any more tickets available for the match between the two teams in the DStv Premiership. The game will be carried live on SABC television, radio stations, and Supersport and will begin at 3.3 p.m.The breakdown of ticket sales shows that 87079 tickets including general admission and day-of hospitality tickets were sold in total for the largest football game in South Africa.
Both fan bases are looking forward to the game since it will decide who gets to claim bragging rights before the FIFA World Cup break. The DStv Premiership’s games this weekend, including the Soweto Derby, are the penultimate ones before the season ends on December 30. Tickets for the game were sold out four days in advance, showing that supporters were anxious to watch their teams one last time before the league took a vacation. Since the start of Covid 19, it will be the first Soweto derby with a packed audience. Chiefs won both derbies last year, and the Pirates last victory over Amakhosi occurred in January 2021.
In March, the Premier Soccer League (PSL) banned all football for five months after originally suspending it for a week owing to the global worsening of the Covid-19 outbreak. That was only a few weeks prior. In the two years that passed before fans returned in March of this year following a resumption to play in August 2020, 10 derbies across all competitions were played in front of closed stadiums. The last time South Africa’s famed Soweto derby was played in front of spectators was on February 29, 2020, when a packed FNB saw Ernst Middendorp’s Chiefs defeat Josef Zinnbauer’s Pirates 1-0.
How Stadium Management plan to for fake ticket
Stadium Management South Africa (SMSABertie )’s Grobbelaar has described their strategy for dealing with spectators who show up at FNB Stadium with bogus tickets for the highly anticipated Soweto derby match. At FNB Stadium on Saturday, Orlando Pirates take on Kaizer Chiefs in the highly anticipated Soweto derby (15:30).
Before, there were incidents where people entered the stadium using false tickets, causing chaos outside the stadium. However, according to Grobbelaar, managing director of Stadium Management SA, they have a soldi strategy. Grobbelaar warned attendees with false tickets to avoid the location or risk being confronted by the music.“Previously when you had a fake ticket there was a conjunction at the turnstiles. And that created chaos because people with tickets were now confronted by those people with fake tickets. As a result, they couldn’t go into the venue,”
“We have now moved the scanning points to the outer precinct which is far away from the turnstiles. There is a specific and dedicated plan with security and the South African Police Service (SAPS).If your ticket doesn’t scan, you are rejected from the scanning channel system. You are taken into a verification point where they will verify of your ticket is fake or not.And If your ticket is fake, it is taken away from you and you are moved away from the event.” said Grobbelaar.It was made clear by Grobbelaar that Stadium Management will not permit fans with bogus tickets to taint the Soweto Derby.
“We’re not going to allow 100, 200, or 1000 people to ruin the experience of the guests of the club. We will need to deal with it, SAPS is ready to deal with it. We expect it, the fake tickets, lets not beat around the bush. We are planning for 2000 fake tickets in the market and we have addressed that. There has been work by crime intelligence and we are ready to deal with that at the gate,so please if you have a fake ticket don’t arrive at the venue. How do I know it is a fake ticket? You can buy your ticket either via Ticketmaster or mobile ticket on your phone or Computicket. If you bought it anywhere else, it is a fake ticket.” he said.
Players to watch for in a derby
Monnapule Saleng
Without a doubt, Saleng is the league’s most effective player right now. After scoring twice against Golden Arrows on Wednesday, he proceeded to destroy Sundowns in the second leg of the MTN8 semi-final this past weekend, attracting comparisons to Riyaad Mahrez of Algeria. His emergence as a man for the big event in front of what is anticipated to be a sold-out crowd at the FNB Stadium would be capped off by a similar performance against the Chiefs this coming weekend.
Yusuf Maart
Once a Sea Robber,Maart will now dress in the Glamour Boys’ signature black and gold. Since Pirates released him in the summer of 2020 after demonstrating little faith in him, he clearly has a grudge against them and will try to clear their name.
Ashley du Preez
Du Preez, a lifelong fan of Kaizer Chiefs, won his significant transfer to the Naturena-based team following a standout season with Stellenbosch the previous year.However, he has been highly inconsistent since joining the club, and he has been accountable for squandering golden opportunities for both the club and the national team. Du Preez must deliver on the biggest platform in South African football if he is to win back the loyal Chiefs fanbase.
Edmilson Dove
The international defender from Mozambique has been a fantastic addition to Arthur Zwane’s back line. The 28-year-old continues to amaze and has won himself back-to-back Man of the Match honors, despite the fact that Chiefs still concede goals at vital moments.On Saturday, Dove would most certainly face the elusive Saleng, and if he can somehow manage to keep him quiet, he may garner even more respect going ahead.
SOWETO derby history
At Orlando Pirates, Kaizer “Chincha Guluva” Motaung and Percy “Chippa” Moloi were a deadly attacking duo for many years. All of that changed when Motaung split from the Buccaneers at the end of 1969, primarily as a result of his support for the team’s three expelled star players, Thomas “Zero” Johnson, Edward “Msomi” Khoza, and Ratha “Jimmy Greaves” Mokgoatleng.Born on January 7, 1970, Kaizer Chiefs arrived in the world just in time to compete in the Rogue Beer Cup. Amakhosi overcame the first obstacle but fell to PUBS 6-5 in the semifinals despite having a 4-1 lead at one point.
The locker room was silent following the game, but the defeat did lead to the first-ever Soweto Derby, which was played on January 24, 1970, when Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates squared off in the Rogue Beer Cup loser’s final. The Buccaneers were defeated by Moroka Swallows Big XV in the semifinals.
In the days leading up to the fight, the headline of the daily newspaper The World screamed, “Chippa-Chippa, Motaung will be on opposing sides.” As the two Soweto teams, one from Orlando and the other from Phefeni were about to face off against one another, many soccer enthusiasts talked about the “Match of the Year.”As Motaung was essentially raised by the Bucs, at least in terms of soccer, playing against the Pirates was like “a son taking on his father.”Herman “Pelé” Blaschke, a striker from Namibia, was specifically flown in from his home nation for this match. At the Amakhosi training facility at Meadowlands Stadium, Motaung and the team manager Ewert Nene greeted him as he returned.
Leading scorer in a SOWETO derby
While Zimbabwean striker Ebson “Sugar” Muguyo, who had a fierce shot in his legs, was the first Chiefs player to achieve a hat-trick, the famous Ntsoelengoe has scored the most goals in a Derby with 19 goals. On December 3, 1975, this took place during the replay of the BP Top 16 semifinal. Win 5-1 for Amakhosi.Nowadays, the Derby is held at FNB Stadium, which is typically packed with 90,000 enthusiastic fans who are blowing vuvuzelas, dancing, and singing. Those that support Amakhosi can be easily identified by their Gold and Black attire. Soweto Derby games are tense affairs, and many players report that they have trouble falling asleep the night before the game. Of course, these nerves usually subside when the referee blows his whistle to signal kickoff.
Globally, the 2017 Soweto Derby is regarded as one of the best, comparable to the match between Boca Juniors and River Plate in Argentina, the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, or the match between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray in Turkey. Many soccer fans travel to South Africa from all across Africa and the rest of the world to witness the Soweto Derby, making it a sight not to be missed.
SOWETO DERBY FACTS
- In the 175 previous official games played to a conclusion in which Pirates faced Chiefs, 190 goals were scored by 92 different players. In addition, Pirates benefited from four own goals scored by Chiefs players.
- Ace Ntsoelengoe (19), Teenage Dladla (11), Shaka Ngcobo (11), and Marks Maponyane (10) all have double-digit goal totals for the Chiefs in games against the Pirates, while Jomo Sono, the Pirates’ most scorer in matches against the Chiefs, has nine goals.
- In Chiefs vs. Pirates games, Marks Maponyane has scored 11 goals, 10 for the Amakhosi and one for the Pirates.
- 169 different players, excluding own goals, have scored in official games between the Chiefs and Pirates.
- Marc Batchelor was the latest of six players for both clubs to score in a Soweto Derby match between the Chiefs and Pirates.
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