May 15, 2008 marked four years since FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced that South Africa had been selected to host the 2010 FIFA (Soccer) World Cup. Bigger than the Olympics in terms of television viewing audience numbers, the massive event set off a chain of capital expenditure and economic growth that continues as the event nears.
While the decision to give South Africa the honor of hosting the 2010 Cup was an exciting one, it won’t be the first major sporting event hosted in the country. South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, the 1998 IAAF Athletics World Cup, the 1999 All Africa Games and the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup.
For further detail on the fourth anniversary of the World Cup decision see: http://www.southafrica.info/2010/announcement.htm
Construction Boom for South Africa
With two years left before South Africa hosts the world’s largest sporting event, construction is underway across the country.
In addition to $10 million budgeted for road infrastructure in 2007, the South African National Roads Agency and the Rail Commuter Corporation have received over $200 million to upgrade roads and stations in areas critical to the World Cup, according to SouthAfrica.info’s May 15 news story on the fourth anniversary of the FIFA decision to pick South Africa.
For South Africans the 2010 FIFA World Cup is a proud and momentous event and Danny Jordaan, the head of the South Africa Local Organising Committee remembers the time when the decision was revealed as “a moment I will never forget for the rest of my life, along with the release from prison of Nelson Mandela.”
On the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the decision, Nelson Mandela himself said, “We South Africans have to look forward to hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2010. This event has the power to break down barriers and unite people around the world in a way that little else does. I am proud and honoured that the greatest single-sport event in the world will be staged in my home country on African soil, and I am confident that it will be the best World Cup yet.” Source: BuaNews, with additional reporting by Ndaba Dlamini, City of Johannesburg, courtesy of SouthAfrica.info.
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