South Africa regularly hosts major international sporting events, and since 1994
has successfully managed some of the biggest - including the 1995 Rugby World Cup,
the 2003 Cricket World Cup, the Women's World Cup of Golf in 2005 and 2006 and,
in January 2006, the only street race in the inaugural A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport.
But the Football World Cup, the world's biggest sporting event after the Olympic
games - in terms of television audience, bigger than the Olympics - is in a class
of its own. For four weeks in 2010, South Africa will be the centre of the world.
The 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan was the most extensively covered and viewed
event in television history. Germany 2006, and South Africa 2010, promise to draw
even bigger audiences. The eyes of billions of television viewers, an estimated
three million international visitors and the cream of the world's sporting media
will be focused on the southern tip of Africa. We don't aim to disappoint.
Infrastructure upgrades:
In choosing South Africa to bring the World Cup to Africa for the first time, Fifa
was not only looking at what the country already offers - world-class transport,
telecommunications, tourism and sporting infrastructure, and a people renowned for
their hospitality and passion for the beautiful game. They were looking ahead. In
2010, football fans will enjoy the benefits of a host of multibillion-rand infrastructure
projects recently announced by the government. Between now and 2010, South Africa
will spend in the region of R5-billion on building and renovating 10 World Cup stadiums,
R5.2-billion on upgrades to the country's airports, and R3.5-billion on improvements
to the country's road and rail network. The country will also be working to tight
deadlines to ensure that the Gautrain, a high-speed rail link between Johannesburg,
Pretoria and Johannesburg International Airport, is up and running in time.
Ten stadiums
Five of South Africa's football stadiums will undergo major renovations for 2010:
Soccer City and Ellis Park in Johannesburg, Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, the Royal
Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg in North West province, and Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein
in the Free State. New stadiums will be built at Mbombela in Mpumalanga and in the
Nelson Mandela Metro (encompassing Port Elizabeth) in the Eastern Cape. Peter Mokaba
stadium in Polokwane in Limpopo will be rebuilt, as will Kings Park stadium in Durban
and Cape Town's Green Point stadium. Kings Park and Green Point stadium will become
completely new multi-sport facilities, Green Point complete with a retractable dome
to protect fans and players from the Cape's unpredictable winter weather.
Boost for the economy
According to consulting firm Grant Thornton, the World Cup will pump around R21.3-billion
into South Africa's economy, generating an estimated R12.7-billion in direct spending
and creating an estimated 159 000 new jobs. The country's tourism industry will
benefit from the estimated three million visitors expected for the tournament, while
construction and engineering companies will look to a slice of the billions to be
spent on infrastructure in the lead-up to the event. However, the indirect spin-offs
of an improved image abroad could have an even greater impact on the economy. "There
will be a big direct injection for the economy", Standard Bank economist Goolam
Ballim said after Fifa announced the 2010 host. "But the indirect impact may be
more meaningful for a sustainable economic lift in subsequent years ... it will
help change the perceptions that a large number of foreign investors hold of Africa
and South Africa." In his 2006 State of the Nation address, President Thabo Mbeki
said the World Cup would make a huge contribution, not only to South Africa's socio-economic
growth, but to the development of the continent as a whole. "In return for these
irreplaceable benefits, we owe it to Fifa and the rest of the soccer world to prepare
properly for 2010," Mbeki said, challenging South Africans to work together to ensure
that the country hosts "the best Soccer World Cup ever".
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