Dazzling TV show for 2010 draw
Lavinia Mahlangu
23 November 2007
On Sunday afternoon, the eyes of the footballing world will turn to the port city of Durban for the preliminary draw for the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa.
The highlight of the draw will be the live broadcast, scheduled to start at 16:00 CET (15:00 GMT, 17:00 local time), with South African President Thabo Mbeki and Fifa President Sepp Blatter in attendance.
The ceremony, which will see some of Africa's finest musical talent performing at what promises to be a dynamic show, will feature the draw to determine the pairings and groups for the 2010 World Cup preliminary competition.
The draw will be conducted by Fifa General Secretary Jerome Valcke, who will be able to count on such famous names as South African legends Kaizer Motaung, Jomo Sono and Lucas Radebe as well as Ali Daei (Iran), George Weah (Liberia), Abedi Pelé Ayew (Ghana), Kasey Keller (USA) and Marcel Desailly (France) as his assistants.
"The draw will give viewers
all around the world an excellent taste of what lies in store for them in 2010," Valcke said in a statement this week. "170 territories have booked the TV feed for this event, which is a new Fifa World Cup record and yet more proof of the huge interest in South Africa 2010."
Addressing the media on Thursday from the Durban International Convention Centre, LOC chief executive officer Danny Jordaan said: "We've worked tirelessly for months on end to ensure all is in place for this special occasion and we are confident that all visitors to our country will revel in our uniquely African hospitality."
Exempt from the draw are South America, whose qualifiers are already under way in a home-and-away league format, and Oceania, whose preliminary competition began with the South Pacific Games in August 2007.
The draw will commence with the Asian zone, followed by Concacaf (North and Central America and the Caribbean), Europe and finally Africa. The results can also be
followed live on Fifa.com.
Meetings of various Fifa bodies and the local organising committee will take place in South Africa's port city on the Indian Ocean before the football family comes together for the draw.
On Saturday, the Organising Committee for the Fifa World Cup will focus on the final preparations for the draw and the approval of the draw procedure for each of the geographic zones while also deliberating on the match schedule and ticketing issues.
Some of the sporting and entertainment activities planned for the city are a massive beach party on Friday evening and the world premiere of Anant Singh's More Than Just A Game, a film that recounts the story of the Makana FA, an association founded by the inmates on Robben Island.
The much awaited Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates derby will take place on Saturday and is to be broadcast to 43 European countries.
Eurosport, Europe's largest sports satellite and cable network, will televise the game to an audience that could be as high as 22.3-million households.
Source: BuaNews
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