Work on upgrading and renovating Ellis Park Stadium ahead of the Festival of Champions is finished, and attention is turning towards the surrounding areas.

WITH only five months to go before the first ball in the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 South Africa™ is kicked, renovations at Ellis Park, the host stadium of the opening and final matches of the football tournament, are complete.

All the building work on the stadium is complete

Giving an update to FIFA.com on the status of Ellis Park Stadium, Sibongile Mazibuko, the executive director in the City of Johannesburg's 2010 unit, said great progress had been made.

"The stadium itself is now complete and the sub-contractors will be handing over at the end of the month. The pitch and seating have also been completed ... We are excited that this phase is coming to an end and we are happy with the work that has been done," she said.

The Confederations Cup, known as the Festival of Champions as it pits the champions of the six FIFA confederations, the reigning world champions and the next FIFA World Cup hosts against each other, will take place from 14 to 28 June 2009.

South American champions, Brazil; European champions, Spain; African champions, Egypt; Asian champions, Iraq; CONCACAF champions, the United States; Oceania champions, New Zealand; 2006 World Cup champions, Italy; and 2010 hosts, South Africa, will compete.

It will be played at Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium, Tshwane's Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Mangaung's Free State Stadium, and Rustenburg's Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace.

Ellis Park will host three opening round matches:

• 14 June - South Africa vs Iraq
• 18 June - Italy vs Egypt
• 20 June - Iraq vs New Zealand

The stadium will also host the opening and closing ceremony of the football festival.

Changes
Ellis Park has undergone major changes. The west, south and north stands have been revamped with additional seating and a new roof added. New change rooms, VIP, media and medical facilities and a new entrance façade to the north stand have been built.

A new, five-level car park has also been completed and will accommodate 1 200 cars.

The revamped Ellis Park Stadium seats 62 000 football fans, increasing its capacity by almost nine percent from the previous 57 000.

"All the building work on the stadium is complete. We are now busy with outside paving and putting final touches to the parkade area," says the stadium manager, Paul Appalsamy.

Precinct upgrade
The completion of Ellis Park Stadium sees focus shifting towards sprucing up the area around the stadium ahead of the Confederations Cup and the World Cup in 2010.

The regeneration falls under the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA), and Gudlhuza, the JDA project manager, says work on the Ellis Park precinct is 86 percent complete.

"We expect all work around the stadium to be done by end of March 2009. We have completed paving around the stadium and built two ablution blocks. A water feature between Ellis Park Stadium and Johannesburg Stadium is currently being built while landscaping and putting up artwork is complete."

The Olympic-size swimming pool in the sports precinct has also been upgraded, according to Gudlhuza. "However, installation of CCTV cameras will be done early in April," he says.