The community's living room - NAD malls bring the FIFA World Cup closer to home

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has only just kicked off, and with weeks of football still to come, South Africans are settling in for a winter of big matches and bigger emotions. The good news for communities is that they do not need tickets, travel plans or fan park wristbands to share in the excitement. For shoppers at New Africa Developments (NAD) malls, the action is already on screen, right where they live.

Across NAD's portfolio of community shopping centres, screens are simply part of everyday mall life. At Mams Mall in Mamelodi in Gauteng and at Acornhoek Mall and Dwarsloop Mall in the Bushbuckridge area of Mpumalanga, shoppers regularly pause to catch the football together. The newly opened Jumbo Mall in eMalahleni adds to the excitement with one of the largest LED screens in the country. With the tournament's best moments still ahead, an ordinary trip to the shops is set to become a shared moment of national excitement.

NAD is clear that its malls are not fan parks, and there is no fixture list or formal viewing programme. Rather, match viewing happens naturally because the screens are simply there, woven into spaces that were designed from the outset as community meeting grounds.

"Our malls have always been about more than retail," says Robin Houghton, Managing Director at NAD. "When we build a mall, we are building a place where the community gathers, celebrates and belongs. Seeing families and friends stop to watch the football together at our centres is exactly what these spaces were created for."

This approach reflects NAD's long-held philosophy of building with purpose and instilling local pride, creating centres that become the heartbeat of the communities they serve. Across Gauteng and Mpumalanga, NAD brings world-class shopping, entertainment and everyday convenience to areas that were historically underserved, and the mall screens are a natural extension of that promise.

For many residents, the local mall offers what formal viewing venues cannot. It is free, familiar and on the doorstep. Shoppers can pick up their groceries and enjoy the match over a shared meal in NAD's extensive food courts, alongside comfortable seating and dedicated workspaces, all in one safe, accessible space close to home. NAD provides these offerings every day, not only for events like the FIFA World Cup, making sure its communities are looked after year-round and not just when a major event is at play.

The excitement is not limited to the malls fitted with screens. At Jubilee Crossing in Hammanskraal, NAD is bringing the World Cup vibe to its community online, keeping local fans part of the action with social media competitions such as Predict and Win throughout the tournament.

And with the group stages building towards the knockout drama of July, there has never been a better time to make the local mall part of the matchday routine. As the tournament heats up, NAD invites communities to do what they have always done at its centres, which is come together and enjoy the moment.

"The beauty of it is that nothing changes," adds Japie van Niekerk, CEO of NAD. “With the World Cup just getting started, it is a wonderful reminder of what our malls already offer to the communities they serve.”

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