23 November 2007

Touching down on African soil for the first time, the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup will test South Africa's state of readiness for the 2010 World Cup.

2010 Local Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan and Fifa Secretary General Jerome Valcke launched the official emblem of the Confederations Cup in Durban on Thursday.

Jordaan said the Confederations Cup - played since 2001 in the World Cup host country a year before Fifa's flagship event - had become a test event in terms of the host country's World Cup readiness.

At the same time, the Confederations Cup - often referred to as the "Champions of Champions" tournament - is a major sporting event in its own right, pitting the six continental champions against the World Cup holders and hosts.

The tournament is contested by the current Fifa World Cup champion, the new host country, and the winners of each of the six Fifa confederation championships - ie the reigning African, Asian, European, Oceanian, South American and Concacaf (North and Central America and the Caribbean) champions.

Brazil, the United States and Iraq have already qualified for the tournament, while the African, European and Oceanian champions will be determined in 2008. Italy and South Africa, as the reigning world champions and host country respectively, will complete the line-up.

Also present at Thursday's launch were Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, South African soccer legend Lucas Radebe and French soccer great Marcel Desailly.

Parreira said the Confederations Cup would "give us a wonderful opportunity to learn about the competition. In 2005 it gave us [Brazil] the opportunity to learn about the travelling, hotels, training grounds, transportations issues and helped us in our preparations for the 2006 Fifa World Cup."

Parreira said that the big picture for him remained the 2010 World Cup, and that the three years leading up to this would be used to prepare Bafana Bafana for the "big guns" like Brazil, France, Italy, England and Argentina.

The new emblem for 2009, created by South African design agency Switch, "expresses the journey being taken by Africa as it stakes its rightful claim as an important global player," Fifa said in a statement.

"Representing a modern Africa, it highlights the celebration of the gathering of the six football continents and their top teams on African soil and also reflects the lofty ambitions of the African people."

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said in the statement: "I want to congratulate the South African design industry for the creation of such a wonderful official emblem which expresses the diversity and colour of Africa."

The eighth Fifa Confederations Cup will be played in five South African cities - Johannesburg, Rustenburg, Tshwane/Pretoria, Mangaung/Bloemfontein, and Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth - from 14 to 28 June 2009.

SAinfo reporter and BuaNews

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