9 August 2017 – Bafana Bafana arrived to a rousing welcome in East London ahead of their first leg 2018 CHAN qualifier against Zambia.

The clash will take place on Saturday, 12 August 2017 at the Buffalo City Stadium.

Kickoff is at 15h00.

A large crowd waited patiently for the South African Senior Men’s National Team to land at the East London airport and welcomed them with songs.

This is the second time Bafana Bafana will play in the city in less than six months.

The last time they were here they faced Angola in an international friendly match in March – which ended in a goalless draw.

SAFA Buffalo City Regional President Mxolisi Sibam welcomed the squad.

“It’s a great feeling having Bafana Bafana on our shores, whenever they are here it is very good for us because we don’t have much exposure in hosting this beloved team of ours. But this year has been good for us as this is the second time they come this way. And when you consider the wonderful reception they got at the airport to welcome the team, I believe it is going to be the same on match day because we are anticipating a full capacity crowd,” said Sibam.

“We are confident Bafana Bafana will do well and everyone will be happy. Eastern Cape is a multi-sports province, we play football, rugby, boxing and cricket, basically all codes – the people of this province are sports lovers. When you bring Bafana Bafana here you are guaranteed a good crowd because we are very patriotic in this part of the world as we are well aware of our responsibilities to support our national teams. But it is more so with Bafana Bafana because football is the number one sport in the country and it is a good advert for the province and for the game of billions.”

Sibam says preparations are at an advanced stage to host this big match at the weekend.

“We have been having meetings with all the stakeholders and these are continuing to make sure everything goes smoothly on Saturday. The municipality has been working tirelessly on the match venue since last week, so we are on track with our preparations. We just need to do the final touch ups and we are good to go. To those who haven’t bought their tickets, they better rush as they will soon be running out and there will be no room for them at the match,” added Sibam.

Bafana Bafana will have their first training session in the city on Thursday (10 August) and the final one on Friday, 11 August before taking on Zambia, who arrive in Buffalo City on Thursday afternoon.

Tickets for the match are on sale for R40 all round at Computicket outlets and Shoprite stores countrywide.