Bundesliga stars support Brand SA
12 June 2007
Three of the top players from German football's Bundesliga are in the country to support Brand South Africa, conduct coaching clinics and kick soccer balls in the stadium where the final game of the 2010 Fifa World Cup will be played.
Bayern Munich's Philipp Lahm and Piotr Trochowski from Hamburger SV visited Soccer City in Johannesburg before attending a press briefing at Safa House, the local headquarters of the 2010 World Cup, on Monday.
Lahm and Trochowski were expected to be joined on Tuesday by England international Owen Hargreaves, who also plays for Bayern Munich but has recently been bought by Manchester United for around US$33-million.
The three players will be in the country until Saturday, during which time they will be involved in charity work and soccer coaching clinics.
The trio have been brought to South Africa by the organisation that successfully branded Germany in 2006, "Germany: Land of Ideas". Brand South Africa custodians, the International Marketing Council of South Africa (IMC), hosted Monday's events.
"Germany hosted the most successful Fifa World Cup to date," IMC marketing director Kheepe Moremi said at Monday's press conference. "At this stage South Africa is ahead of where Germany was in its preparations. This gives us the confidence to say that our aim is to do even better than the Germans."
Mike de Vries, who heads up Germany: Land of Ideas, stressed the enormous opportunities that 2010 would present to South Africa. "We managed to make Germans proud of their country," De Vries told journalists at Safa House. "We also got foreigners to look differently at our country. They now see us as efficient and friendly.
"You can do the same, and our visit here is to underline our confidence in your ability."
'We've done it before: we'll do it again'
Moremi said the IMC would be flighting a television and radio advertising campaign to
launch the Brand SA rallying call: "'We've done it before and will do it again in 2010."
The campaign kicks off on Youth Day, 16 June, "the day when the young people of South Africa showed that what for many people seems to be impossible is in fact possible". The 1976 Soweto Uprising, commemorated on 16 June, is widely seen as the first sign of the crumbling of apartheid.
"These three stars are kicking soccer balls in South Africa today - and will be back here in 2010 to see magnificently completed stadiums and a proud and united South Africa after showing the world, and each other, that we've done it before and can do it again," Moremi said.
The IMC roped in the city of Johannesburg to take the three soccer stars to two stadiums being rebuilt for 2010. The first stop, Orlando Stadium - which will be a training ground in 2010 - was included on the players' programme to showcase the tremendous spin-offs 2010 will have through Johannesburg's "legacy projects".
The second stop was Soccer City, where the soccer stars had a chance to kick a football between workers and bulldozers rebuilding the stadium.
"If you think back, the city of Johannesburg did most of the hosting for the [1995] Rugby and [2003] Cricket World Cups and the [2002] World Summit on Sustainable Development," said Sibongile Mazibuko, the city's executive director for 2010.
"We will be the most prominent city in 2010 - hosting the opening ceremony and the final match of the tournament, as well as a number of games in between."
Philipp Lahm, who was nominated for the Fifa World Player of the Year 2006 award, is considered one of the best young fullbacks in the world today. He scored the opening goal of Germany 2006. Piotr Trochowski also plays for Germany's national team.
Owen Hargreaves will be joining Manchester United on 1 July after almost a year of negotiations between Bayern Munich and United.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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