FNB 'first for 2010 tickets'
Themba Gadebe
11 July 2007Employees of South Africa's First National Bank (FNB), which signed on last year as the first local sponsor of the 2010 Fifa World Cup in a deal worth US$30-million (about R216-million), will be "the first in the world" to receive tickets to the tournament.
According to FNB website, the bank will be giving away tickets as part of a staff incentive programme dubbed "Learn to Score". FNB has secured 3 000 tickets to the tournament, and will be awarding the first 400 of these in September, followed by another 400 in December.
And some lucky FNB customers will also be awarded tickets in a programme to be unveiled in November.
Learn to Score will allow the bank's 26 000 employees to access online learning content and score goals by performing well in 10 assessments, or "games", to be played between July 2007 and March 2010.
Prizes will include double tickets to 2010 World Cup and 2009 Confederations Cup games, as well as branded World Cup merchandise.
The games are based on the learning material, which includes sections on soccer, as well as a Proudly South African aimed at helping participants be successful "ambassadors" for the country in 2010.
"The objective of the competition is to improve staff knowledge of the beautiful game of soccer and FNB business, attract and retain talent, outlearn our competitors and become a world class national supporter of the 2010 Fifa World Cup," said FNB brand director Derek Carstens.
Addressing FNB staff in Johannesburg on Tuesday, 2010 Local Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan said the sponsorship made FNB staff members "stakeholders" in the tournament.
"By the time you have worked through the various sections, I hope you will have become experts on every aspect of the beautiful game and the tournament in 2010," Jordaan said.
Former Bafana Bafana captain Lucas Radebe said the World Cup would give South Africans the opportunity project a positive image of the country the world.
The tournament was being hosted, Radebe said, not by the Local Organising Committee or the SA Football Association, but by "46 million South Africans - and it is the collective enthusiasm of the people that will make the event a success."
Source: BuaNews
