The bowl design aimed to put every seat as close as practical to the field action and maintain excellent sightlines over the heads of spectators.

The cool season rye grass pitch grown from seed is reinforced with Desso GrassMaster artificial turf fibres which anchor the field, creating what is essentially a semi-synthetic pitch for a stable and a level grass surface and has no problem standing up to extreme abuse during a rugby scrum.

The pitch was the cause of great concern and some ridicule 5 months before the World Cup, but its perfect performance in its first real test on 16 May 2010 silenced the critics.

[7] Concerns were raised over the playing surface with Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor describing it as "sandy" and "a disgrace".

[8][9] Subsequent to the pitch failure of AFCON 2013 during summer cynodon is grown which provides a robust and dependable surface during the hot climate.

The structure is a propped cantilever on a 30 m module with the steel towers for the tension rods doubling as symbolic giraffe necks.

Allegations of corruption relating to the awarding of construction contracts in the building of the stadium plagued the project.

Bobby Motaung, manager of Kaiser Chiefs football club, Herbert Theledi, a businessman with powerful provincial connections, and Chris Grib, a minority shareholder in Lefika and CEO tasked with day-to-day running of the company.

Chris Grib left the country in late 2008 under a cloud when it came to light that the SA Revenue Services tax clearance document required to win the design contract was fraudulent.

[20] After Jimmy Mohlala was assassinated weeks after he attempted to cancel the design contract, the balance of the construction till completion proceeded with Lefika effectively absent, but still earning their professional fees.

Arrests Despite their wrongdoings being widely reported, Lefika enjoyed political protection by the provincial ANC under the leadership of premier David Mabuza and the Jacob Zuma-faction who reportedly suppressed the powerful evidence against Lefika and blocked legal prosecution against them for three years.

Chris Grib was out of the country when Jimmy Mohlala was murdered and when Lefika forged a document on a Municipal letter head used to apply for a R1 million overdraft from Nedbank so he was expected to testify against his co-directors Motaung and Theledi under a plea deal for a lesser sentence.

[23] By July 2016 the case was struck off the roll due to a lack of evidence among talk of Bobby Motaung intimidating witnesses from testifying.

[24] In November 2017 the National Prosecuting Authority announced that the fraud case would no longer be pursued for lack of evidence.

[25] The dropping of charges were reportedly due to Zuma-faction members within the National Prosecuting Authority suppressing the evidence.

[27] When the Mbombela Municipality was reinstated 5 months later, the outspoken new mayor Lassie Chiwayo and council officials reportedly received death threats, warning them to remain silent about the evidence of corruption.

Attempted manipulation of stadium construction sub-contracts by Lefika was successfully blocked by principled officials within the Municipality and the Project Manager.

[30] The land belonging to the Matsafeni trust was secretly sold for R1 by Mattafin community leaders to the Mbombela Local Municipality for the new stadium in exchange for other rights.

The sale was set aside three years later when the community launched a legal challenge and reinstated with a market related price.

Because it is the only large venue in the province it has had high utililisation in contrast to expectations that it would not serve much purpose after the World Cup.

The country's national team, popularly known as the Springboks, played their first match at the stadium against Scotland on 15 June 2013.

The two composed the second round of a one-off four-team tournament that served partly as a warm-up for the Boks' 2013 Rugby Championship campaign.

[36] The first time the All Blacks would play against the Boks at Mbombela Stadium was scheduled for 26 September 2020 but the game was cancelled due the COVID-19 pandemic.