EPCR Challenge Cup
The schedule for Toyota Cheetahs includes events in the Challenge Cup. They play their home games at Toyota Stadium (Free State Stadium).
The Cheetahs, known for sponsorship purposes as the Toyota Cheetahs, is a professional rugby club based in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The team is currently an invitational side: it does compete in a regular league competition, but does feature in the EPCR Challenge Cup. Cheetahs home matches are mostly played at Toyota Stadium (Free State Stadium) in Bloemfontein; the club's home colours are orange, black, and white.
Whilst the Cheetahs franchise today represents only the western half of Free State, the team is nonetheless strongly linked to the representative side, the Free State Cheetahs. The Free State Rugby Union can trace its history back to 1895, however the modern-day Toyota Cheetahs first played in 2005, when it was admitted to the Super 14 ahead of the 2006 season.
The Cheetahs finished the inaugural Super 14 season in tenth place, and would not better that finish until 2013, when the side reached the qualifying final after ending the season in sixth position.
Following the 2017 Super Rugby season, the Cheetahs joined the United Rugby Championship (URC), then known as the Pro 14. The team finished third in Conference A during its inaugural campaign, but was eliminated in the play-off quarter finals. The club also appeared in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 editions of the competition. Throughout 2020 and 2021 the Cheetahs competed in Super Rugby Unlocked, a version of Super Rugby held during the coronavirus pandemic, and the South African Preparation Series tournament.
In 2022 the Cheetahs joined fellow South Africans the Lions in the Challenge Cup ahead of the 2022/23 tournament; they reached the round of 16, and returned ahead of the 2023/24 Challenge Cup.
The home venue of Toyota Cheetahs is Toyota Stadium (Free State Stadium) in Bloemfontein. Away games will usually be played at the rival team's home venue.
Match tickets for Cheetahs home matches generally go on sale at regular intervals throughout the season. Challenge Cup tickets may not become available as soon as the Challenge Cup schedule is announced, but may go on sale in the following weeks, closer to the games themselves.
Tickets for Cheetahs home fixtures can be purchased online. It may be possible to purchase select tickets for some games at a stadium ticket office, but buying tickets online is generally the best means of securing tickets, as there is likely to be a wider range of ticket options available in advance of match day, and fans can quickly compare prices from across the venue and from different ticket suppliers. Purchasing tickets at the stadium may result in there being fewer tickets available – tickets might even be sold out. Koobit provides links to purchase rugby match tickets online directly from official suppliers and resellers.
Cheetahs home games are held at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein. This stadium is located in an urban area, and so there are multiple car parks located nearby. For information about match day car parking, as well as other travel information such as recommended public transport links, see the Toyota Stadium page, or click through to a specific event and select the Travel & Parking tab.
As Cheetahs home games are hosted in the city of Bloemfontein, there is a range of good accommodation options located close to the stadium. Local hotel and accommodation options can be found on the Toyota Stadium venue page, or by clicking through to a specific match and selecting the Accommodation tab.
