Archive for the 'South Africa' Category

Following a meeting with the President of the Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter presented the 2010 FIFA World Cup Legacy Trust at Soccer City in Johannesburg. This trust will support a wide range of public benefit initiatives in the areas of football development, education, health and humanitarian activities in South Africa. The trust forms part of FIFA’s 2010 FIFA World Cup-related legacy programmes and delivers on FIFA’s pledge to ensure that South Africans will continue to benefit from the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The trust amounts to USD 100 million, USD 80 million of which is being allocated directly to social community projects. The remaining USD 20 million was already provided to the South African Football Association (SAFA) in the build-up to the event for preparations and for the construction of SAFA House. As a first project financed by the trust, FIFA purchased 35 of the team buses and a fleet of 52 cars, which were handed over to SAFA today for transport of their regional teams.

The trust will be administered by international auditing company Ernst and Young while the trustees, consisting of a representative each from FIFA, SAFA, the government and the private sector, will evaluate into which public-benefit projects the money is invested. All projects must be submitted to the trustees for review with one of the decisive conditions being that they must be for public benefit only.

The beneficiaries will be selected for projects within the following four areas:
• Football: administration, development, coordination or promotion of non-professional football.
• Education and development: provision of education by a school as defined in the South African Schools Act.
• Health care: provision of health care services to disadvantaged communities, including prevention of HIV infection and other preventative and education programmes.
• Humanitarian activities: community development for disadvantaged persons and anti-poverty initiatives.

“The trust is the latest piece in our mosaic of 2010 FIFA World Cup-related legacy activities for South Africa and the African continent. This is also a reward for South Africans for having been such great hosts. We have always said that the first FIFA World Cup on African soil should leave a lasting sports and social legacy once the tournament is over. This trust is yet another concrete achievement in this area,” said the FIFA President.

“We achieved our goals with regard to the successful hosting of the FIFA World Cup event. Now remains the difficult but most important task of ensuring a lasting legacy and to build world-class national teams both at youth and senior level. The FIFA World Cup Legacy Trust which is being launched today is an important contribution to the achievement of that goal,” said President Jacob Zuma.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup Legacy Trust adds to a series of legacy initiatives launched and implemented by FIFA since 2005, consisting of the 20 Football for Hope Centres, the Win in Africa with Africa initiative, the 11 for Health campaign as well as the 2010 FIFA World Cup Ticket Fund. FIFA also supports the 1 GOAL: Education for All initiative co-chaired by Queen Rania of Jordan and the FIFA President.

World Cup 2010: Spain’s World Cup final winning team has returned home on Monday to a countrywide celebration.

Hundreds of thousands of people turned the streets of Madrid into a sea of red, the color of the national team.

Before the grand parade in which they showed the trophy to the whole country, the players got a more formal congratulation from King Juan Carlos, then were congratulated by Prime Minister Zapatero.

Even if the day was not an official holiday, all of Spain acted like it was on Monday. This celebration of football united people in Spain for the first time in years, making them see past their differences.

Another interesting fact is that, during the celebration, Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas was dressed by Pique and Puyol in an FC Barcelona shirt. Then, goalkeeper Pepe Reina has called the midfielder the future of the Catalan club.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has expressed his desire to keep the player.

2010 FIFA World Cup: Spain has won World Cup 2010 in the second half of extra time.

It was a very dynamic game, one that started with a first half that had a lot of hard tackles.

Then, in the second half, both teams kept the ball in midfield more. Both of them had many good opportunities to score, and Arjen Robben could have closed the game on two occasions. Casillas was at his post and the score remained 0-0.

The same happened for David Villa, as he was well marked.

The game got into extra time and, just when it seemed that we would have a penalty shootout, Andres Iniesta scored with a fabulous effort and closed the game.

Spain are the new world champions, managing to achieve the double. They are world champions and European champions at the same time.

Shakira and special guest Freshlyground will be performing the #1 Hit “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)” during the closing ceremonies of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The performance will take place on the field at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg on July 11 at 6:42 local time to precede the final match of the cup and will be available to all FIFA network partners.

Sony Music announced today that Shakira featuring Freshlyground’s Waka Waka (This Time For Africa), the Official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup(TM), has reached one million singles sold since it became available May 11. In the history of the World Cup. “Waka Waka” is the fastest-selling single and the biggest-selling World Cup single of the digital age. All proceeds from the song will benefit FIFA’s Official Campaign of the 2010 FIFA World Cup(TM) “20 Centers for 2010.”

The song was written and co-produced by global superstar Shakira. The song is as international as the games themselves. It is inspired by an African marching chant, “Zangalewa” made popular by the Cameroonian group Golden Voices and combines Afro-Colombian instrumentation and rhythms with a rousing Soca beat and Southern African choir and guitar. It is also included on “Listen Up! The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Album(TM)” released by Sony Music Entertainment.

Suarez won’t be in the Uruguay lineup tonight, as Uruguay plays Netherlands.

Uruguay is probably the most unexpected semifinal presence.

Some people didn’t even expect Uruguay to get out of a group that featured some strong teams, including France.

Well, they did and went from one game to another to reach this semifinal. They meet a very strong opponent, the Netherlands, a team with class players.

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez does not seem that worried, though. Tabarez has said that the whole pressure is on the Dutch in the game tonight, as nobody expects his side to win.

Uruguay have been World champions in 1930 and 1950, but they are not considered favorites for tonight’s game. They are the only South American team still in the competition and the biggest surprise.

They won’t be able to use Suarez tonight, as he is suspended for the red card he received in the game against Ghana.

Argentina has won the third game in a row at the World Cup, against Greece and progressed to the next stage.

Maradona’s team has qualified and is the first team with a perfect record.

They have 3 wins to their name and 9 points, as well as an excellent goal difference – 7 goals scored, with only 1 goal conceded.

The team looked pretty good in the game today, too, even if Maradona decided to use a few players that weren’t in his first eleven in the first games. And he was mostly right. Veron played a good game and Martin Palermo scored the second goal.

Demichelis might have had a few bad moments in the first games, but today he made up for it by scoring his team’s first goal in the 77th minute, and was followed by Palermo in the 89th.

A good performance in front of a Greece team that had mostly defensive intentions throughout the game.

In the other game of the group Korea Republic qualified by getting a 2-2 draw against Nigeria.

World Cup 2010: Mexico vs. Uruguay will be a very interesting match, between the leaders of group A at World Cup 2010.

Both of these teams have 4 points before this last group game and a draw means qualification for both.

If these two draw today, France goes home no matter what.

Still, we have seen some very good football from these two along the first two games and it should be the same today. Diego Forlan scored one of the most beautiful goals of the tournament against South Africa and it looks like he will be one of the top goal scorers of the tournament. They’ve also played a very good game against France.

Mexico won against France and got a draw against South Africa and they will hope to advance in the competition, too.

We’ll have to see what happens. If this one ends in a draw, France will play South Africa just for fun…

The French team’s training session today in South Africa came to an abrupt halt.

Coach Raymond Domenech had a fight with team captain Patrice Evra and fitness coach Robert Duverne.

At the end of the talk, Duverne threw his accreditation down. Right after this, the players have started heading for the bus and back to the hotel, where they regrouped.

Domenech seems to have lost control of the situation almost completely, after the French team has very few chances of advancing to the knockout stage of World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

To add insult to injury, Jean Louis Valentin, the director of the French Football Federation, has announced his resignation, saying that he was disgusted and that this situation is for the whole team, country and federation and they won’t be a part of it. He refused to accept this.

Many think that the cause of the scandal is Domenech’s decision to send Nicholas Anelka home. The striker gave Domenech a piece of his mind after the last game.

Blind and visually impaired fans will be able to enjoy a special live-match experience at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Six stadiums will each have 15 seats equipped with headphones, and trained commentators will report live on the action happening down on the pitch. In addition, each of these six stadiums will have 15 seats that will be allocated to their sighted guides who will accompany them, while specially trained volunteers will provide assistance within the stadiums. This is a premier in South Africa’s sporting landscape.

The initiative, launched by the Swiss National Association for the Blind (SNAB) and the South African National Council for the Blind (SANCB) and financially supported by FIFA, is aimed at making the tournament accessible to all. FIFA Partner Sony is providing the necessary transmitters that will allow people to receive match-day commentary in the stadiums free of charge. The SANCB is ensuring that the tickets are fairly allocated and only a very limited number of tickets are still available for 19 matches via .www.sancb.org.za.

“Football is a universal sport and it must be accessible to everyone. We are therefore delighted to be able to make this unique live experience in the stadium also accessible to visually impaired and blind people. This project is another launching pad for South African sports and will create a legacy with services and facilities at football grounds for visually impaired and blind South Africans,” said FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter.

The Institute of Advancement of Journalism was responsible for sourcing, training and coordinating the audio descriptors, while the Academy of Sound Engineering students will perform the technical audio functions that will be necessary to ensure that the audio descriptions are correctly transmitted to the visually impaired fans at the stadiums.

The stadiums offering this service are:

• Johannesburg – Soccer City Stadium: 8 matches
• Johannesburg – Ellis Park Stadium: 7 matches
• Tshwane/Pretoria – Loftus Versfeld Stadium: 6 matches
• Durban – Durban Stadium: 7 matches
• Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth – Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium: 8 matches
• Cape Town – Green Point Stadium: 8 matches

MATCH SCHEDULE:

• Soccer City: Netherlands vs Denmark 13:30

• Bloemfontein/Manguang: Japan vs Cameroon16:00

• Cape Town: Italy vs Paraguay 20:30

TRANSPORT:

Spectators should be aware of the fact that no private vehicles will be allowed within the stadium precincts and only people with valid, official tickets for the match will be admitted to the immediate surrounding areas. Private vehicles will also not be allowed to park close to the stadiums due to the exclusion zones which will be put in place. Fans are also encouraged to leave home early and get to the stadium well in advance of the start of the opening and closing ceremonies and kickoff on the other match days. Gates to Soccer City will open at 10am on the day of Opening Ceremony. On regular match days gates will open three hours before kickoff.

JOHANNESBURG:

Arrangements the same as match Day 1. Spectators area once again encouraged to get to the stadium early and not to attempt to drive to the stadium.

MANGAUNG/BLOEMFONTEIN:

The City of Mangaung will offer visitors and residents safe and easily accessible public transport during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Bus and other existing services will cater for a wide variety of transport requirements, and will ensure that the Free State Stadium, the FIFA Fan Fest™ and the public viewing areas (PVAs) are adequately served.

Event-related public transport will be added to the regular public transport system i.e. the airport to stadium shuttle that will run from the Bloemfontein International Airport to the Free State Stadium via the rail station and Park and Ride services. Manguang’s inner city will be served by an inner city transport service.

Airport Shuttle: An airport to stadium service will run from the airport, via the Railway Station and major accommodation nodes e.g. hotels and school hostels to the stadium.

Intercity Services: A dedicated inner city shuttle service will operate and this route will include a total of 16 stops including major accommodation and shopping nodes, the railway station and the stadium.

A valid match-ticket will allow the user access to the shuttle service, without any additional charges.

Park and Ride Sites: The following sites have been identified as park-and-rides:

• Bloemfontein Baptist Church, Nelson Mandela Drive

• Bloemfontein Showgrounds, Curie Avenue

Park and Ride services to operate from 4hrs before kick-off to 2 hours the after game ends (for ticket holders). Other shuttle services, to operate from 05:00 to 22:00 from 2 days before first to 2 days after the last match to be hosted in Bloemfontein (for ticket holders).

Park and Walk Sites: The following sites have been identified:

• Grey College

• Fontein Street Parkade.