Brazil to learn from 2010 WC
2 September 2009
A top Brazilian delegation visited South Africa this week to learn more about the processes and requirements needed to host a football World Cup, the 2010 Fifa World Cup Organising Committee said on Tuesday. Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014.
Spokesman Rich Mkhondo said the delegation, led by Mato Grosso state governor Blairo Borges Maggi, met the chief executive officer of the organising committee, Danny Jordaan, on Monday.
He said the Brazilians were pleased with the organising committee's focus on tourism, infrastructure, the rebuilding of South Africa's and Africa's image, job creation and stimulating growth in the small business sector.
"We have officially started our meetings in preparation for 2014, and we are ready to learn from South Africa," Maggi said after the meeting. "What is really important is that we meet with the administration so that they will be able to assist us and tell us what works best."
Jordaan told the Brazilian delegation that the legacy of the event, in purely footballing terms, was "to see improvement for football in this country – better stadiums, training grounds and broadcasting. That is really the hub of the economy of football.
"Up to 85% of the [global] football economy is in Europe, with the highest concentration in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France," Jordaan said.
"If Brazil and South Africa can build a basis of world-class infrastructure, including in broadcast and telecommunications, we can create, in my opinion, a central economy of football in the southern hemisphere."
Brazil will be only the fifth country to host the Fifa World Cup twice, after Mexico, Italy, France and Germany.
It will also be the first time in Fifa history that the tournament will be hosted consecutively in the southern hemisphere.
Sapa
