For years, the detour was as costly as it was absurd. Whenever Botswana’s national teams or top clubs drew a home fixture in continental competition, the match could not be played at home; not in the capital, not at the National Stadium. Instead, the entire operation; players, officials, security details, visiting delegations – was bundled 465 kilometres north to Francistown, to a modest arena named Obed Itani Chilume Stadium, the only venue in the country that satisfied the Confederation of African Football’s requirements.
The round trip swallowed money by the hundreds of thousands. Hotels were booked, charter flights hired, security arrangements duplicated. A match that should have been a celebration of home-ground advantage became instead a logistical ordeal; and a financial drain on an association already struggling to fund grassroots academies, player pathways and the very clubs carrying Botswana’s flag into intercontinental competition.
Now, that ordeal may be ending.
The National Stadium, after a comprehensive refurbishment that upgraded its playing surface, modernised its media facilities and overhauled its security infrastructure, has regained CAF Category 3 accreditation, a designation that clears the way for elite international football to return to Gaborone for the first time in years. And the consequences, those close to the game say, extend well beyond the boundaries of the pitch.
The Botswana Football Association (BFA) stands to save more than 800,000 pula per international match, according to officials – a sum that represents not merely a reprieve but a potential pivot in how the country allocates its footballing resources. For clubs like Gaborone United and Jwaneng Galaxy, which begin their intercontinental campaigns in September, the savings are equally transformative.
“We are happy because that alone will reduce our expenditure,” said Tariq Babitseng, the BFA president, who also leads the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. His tone was measured, but the arithmetic was plain: every match played in Gaborone could allow the association to retain up to 800,000 pula within the football development system rather than dissipating it on the logistics of a forced pilgrimage to Francistown.
The financial anatomy of that loss tells the story of a system stretched to its limits. Visiting teams could fly directly into Gaborone, but the BFA then had to shoulder the cost of moving those delegations; along with its own officials, security personnel and support staff; northward. Accommodation had to be arranged in a second city. Security had to be deployed twice. The cumulative burden placed unnecessary strain on an organisation whose remit already encompassed national teams, youth development and the wider health of the domestic game.
At the club level, the figures are even starker. Tankiso Morake, the public relations officer for Jwaneng Galaxy, estimated that the club would save roughly 810,000 pula per match now that the National Stadium is available; 180,000 pula on hotels and accommodation for staff, executive committee members and the squad during preparation, and a further 600,000 pula on the charter flights previously required to transport visiting teams when matches were staged outside Gaborone. An additional 30,000 pula, he said, was routinely spent on mileage, lodging and meals for BFA officials compelled to travel from the capital; known locally as Gabs – to Francistown, widely called Ghetto, simply to facilitate fixtures.
“Mileage for BFA staff who are operational from Gabs to Ghetto, their accommodation and meals; we are saving 30,000,” Morake said, the shorthand itself a reminder of how routine the journey had become.
Beyond the balance sheets of clubs and football authorities, the return of international football to Gaborone carries a quieter, less quantifiable benefit. Galaxy supporters, many of whom had to arrange their own transport and accommodation for the long trek north, will now find the beautiful game returned to their doorstep; a small restoration of the covenant between a club and its community.
The stadium’s reinstatement is the product of a refurbishment programme that addressed several areas CAF deemed deficient: the playing surface, the media infrastructure, the security apparatus. But Babitseng was careful to note that accreditation is not a permanent prize. Continued cooperation between sporting authorities, he said, would be essential if Botswana is to maintain the facility at the required standard and secure lasting CAF approval.
There is a larger ambition at stake. The shortage of CAF-certified venues has been one of the principal obstacles to Botswana’s bid to host the 2028 Africa Cup of Nations finals; a goal that remains both tantalising and, for now, just out of reach. The return of the National Stadium at least narrows the gap between aspiration and infrastructure.
In the meantime, the pressure on Obed Itani Chilume has been relentless. The Francistown stadium has not only hosted Botswana’s national teams; it has also accommodated neighbouring countries – Namibia and Zimbabwe among them – that lack CAF-approved venues of their own. While such generosity has burnished Botswana’s reputation as a regional football hub, it has also underscored an urgent, unmistakable need.
“The demand on Obed Itani Chilume is too high,” Babitseng said simply.
The National Stadium’s return, then, is more than a story of bricks and accreditation. It is a story of money redirected, of burdens lifted, of a country that can now contemplate hosting the world; or at least the continent; without first having to pack its bags and drive 465 kilometres in the wrong direction. More importantly, it may mark the beginning of a shift in how Botswana thinks about its footballing resources: not as a ledger of losses incurred, but as an investment waiting to be made.
The pitch in Gaborone is ready. The question now is what the game decides to do with the savings.
QUOTE – The National Stadium’s reinstatement on the CAF-approved list promises sweeping financial relief – and a chance to reimagine where the money goes.