FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) have officially cleared the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein to host Lesotho home match against South Africa.
The matchday seven of 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers will hold as scheduled after clearance was given on Tuesday.
The clearance followed an in-person inspection on Tuesday after earlier uncertainty surrounding the condition of the pitch.
This is due to poor state of the pitch as earlier envisaged.
However, their earlier decision relied on second-hand reports without any officials conducting a physical pitch assessment.
Following Tuesday’s inspection, both bodies declared the Free State Stadium fit to host the Group C encounters as initially scheduled.
Lesotho home fixture, will take place in South Africa due to the absence of a CAF-approved stadium in the mountain kingdom.
SAFA also confirmed that Tuesday’s clash between Bafana Bafana and Nigeria’s Super Eagles will remain at the same venue.
This handed an advantage of back to back games to the South Africans.
It boosts the chances of Hugo Broos men of securing victories in both fixtures which would place Bafana Bafana within reach of World Cup qualification.
Lesotho FA communications manager Mikia Kalati confirmed that the clearance to play at Free State Stadium came as a huge relief.
“Logistically it would have been a nightmare to move the match to Dr. Molemela Stadium after we had already sold tickets for Free State”.
He added that CAF and FIFA assured the association that the game would proceed at the larger 42,000-capacity venue.
The Free State Stadium, nearly double the size of Dr. Molemela’s 22,000 capacity, is expected to be packed to the brim.
Super Eagles must defeat Rwanda in Uyo on Saturday and also beat South Africa to stand a chance of qualifying.
Bafana Bafana lead Group C with 13 points from six matches, placing them ahead of Rwanda, Benin, Nigeria, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe.
