It's all systems go for the 2010 Soccer World Cup to be held in South Africa,
with 75% of all Fifa contracts for this sporting spectacle having been signed
and sealed, government news agency BuaNews reports.
This was revealed by the chief executive of the Fifa 2010 World Cup Local
Organising Committee, Danny Jordaan, during a media briefing in Durban, after
meeting the city's authorities as part of the 2010 Fifa World Cup Host Cities
Forum.
Emerging from a successful meeting with, among others, the eThekwini city
manager, Mike Sutcliffe, a confident Jordaan promised that South Africa and
indeed Africa would deliver the most successful World Cup ever.
Exceed previous profits
The event would far exceed previous hosts in terms of profits generated, said
Mr Jordaan. To this end, 75% of contracts had already been signed with sponsors
and Fifa partners.
These, he said, included the signing of the contract for the broadcasting
rights for Europe which had secured a whopping $1.2bn for Fifa.
This amount, said Jordaan, far exceeded the amount obtained during the Korea
/Japan World Cup and was also expected to exceed the one to be obtained form the
forthcoming Fifa 2006 World Cup beginning in Germany next week.
Jordaan said: "There will be additional revenues, in that people would be
able to watch the full World Cup match from their cellphones.
World class world cup
"We want this World Cup to be world class and it has already outperformed the
other World Cups in terms of revenue. We want to position it as the first World
Cup in Africa."
He added that the 2010 World Cup emblem would be launched in Berlin, Germany,
on July 7 2006. This would be the earliest launch of an emblem, in relation to
when the World Cup would be taking place.
Nine cities would host World Cup games in South Africa with 10 stadiums
having been identified and approved by Fifa.
Five of the stadiums were already constructed, said Jordaan. Durban is one of
the cities which is to build a new stadium.
The city had set aside R1.6bn for the construction of what is to be an iconic
King Senzangakhona Stadium.
