JOHANNESBURG – Safa president Danny Jordaan on Wednesday afternoon said the game between Mamelodi Sundowns and Barcelona, which has been the subject of uncertainty since it was announced by Sundowns owner Patrice Motsepe last week, was “coming”, but further details were for Motsepe to pronounce.
South Africans – some Sundowns fans and supporters of the Spanish outfit – have been anxiously waiting for the club to give more information such as ticket sales, the actual date of the fixture and logistics.
However, since first confirming the match on MetroFM last Friday, neither Motsepe nor the Sundowns communication department have said a word.
What has aggravated the situation, throwing some doubts on whether the game will in fact take place at FNB Stadium next week, is the deafening silence from Barcelona.
“The match is coming and it is for Mr Patrice Motsepe to announce the details – but most of those you have written about anyway,” said Jordaan shortly after the launch of the ABC Motsepe League playoff draw at Safa House – an event which was attended by Precious Motsepe, the wife of the Sundowns owner, in place of the mining magnate himself.
Read: Tickets for Sundowns v Barcelona start at R40
She joked that she had not seen her husband since he jetted off with Jordaan to Spain to watch Barcelona play to a 2-2 draw with rivals Real Madrid on Sunday at Camp Nou, in their efforts to “try and broker this Barcelona deal”.
“I am sure he is back and just arrived this morning, and I am sure he will have a press conference. I don’t want to give you anymore details, please speak to Mamelodi Sundowns,” Jordaan explained when told by journalists that the club was mum on specifics.
“But Safa has a long history in supporting Nelson Mandela, and this is the centenary year of his celebration. Last year when we were in Madrid, we discussed this matter with La Liga (the Spanish FA) because we have an agreement with the league.
“We discussed this in planning the centenary celebration of Nelson Mandela. So, if Sundowns have come forward to say they are champions of South Africa and Barcelona are the champions of Spain, what a wonderful celebration of football.
“Spanish people treasure having won their first World Cup on South African soil (in 2010), and so do most of those Barcelona players.”
Patrice Motsepe is believed to be forking out R100 million, plus the added R125 000 to have CAF shift Sundowns’ Champions League clash against Horoya to later in May so they can bring Barcelona to the country for a game that was at first said to be schedule for next week Wednesday.
But now it appears to have been moved by a day, according to the Sundowns owner’s wife, to Tuesday. But it’s not clear why.
She said the Motsepe Foundation would be hosting the Spanish outfit in honour of former statesman Mandela.
“The foundation is celebrating the 100 years, and our role is really to come in and host Barcelona and have them play Sundowns.
“The technical stuff and logistical arrangements are not really something I can give you information on. I am sure Danny Jordaan mentioned that the game is going to be on Tuesday.”
While there has been no official word from the club regarding ticket sales, Jacques Grobbelaar, who is the Stadium Management SA chief executive – the company that runs the match venue FNB Stadium – took to Twitter to announce the pricing of these sought-after tickets, and revealed that they would be available at Computicket outlets and Shoprite.
Computicket confirmed being the ticketing agency for the match, but said “bookings are not open for public sales yet, and tickets will be released during the course of the week”.
The cheapest ticket will go for R40.