Fifa 'confident' about SA 2010
Ndaba Dlamini
10 July 2008
Fifa is confident that South Africa's preparations for the 2010 World Cup are adequate and there is no immediate plan to take the tournament to another country.
This was said by the secretary-general of the world football governing body, Jerome Valcke, after a 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) board meeting in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Valcke's comments come after reports that Fifa president Sepp Blatter had said there was, after all, a "plan B" in place in the event of South Africa failing to host the world's most popular sports tournament.
As the international football governing body, Valcke said, Fifa had a mandate to have measures in place in case a natural catastrophe occurred in a country which was due to host an event of this size. It was only in the event of a natural disaster that Fifa would put in place a plan B, he stressed.
"I can give an example of China, which was supposed to host the women's soccer World Cup in 2003. That event had to be moved to the United States because of the outbreak of the Sars [severe acute respiratory syndrome] disease."
He would not say which country would take over from South Africa if there was a natural disaster in the republic.
"As Fifa we are confident that preparations for the 2010 World Cup in terms of transport, security, accommodation and stadium construction are going on very well. We are getting what we need from South Africa in terms of our agreement for the country to host the event."
Port Elizabeth ruled out for 2009
At the same event, LOC chairman Irvin Khoza said that Nelson Mandela Bay had been removed from the schedule for the 2009 Confederations Cup following a report from the committee's technical team.
"We acknowledge the progress that has been made on the Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth stadium in recent months," he said. "With the complex nature of the construction and erection of the roof of the stadium, however, it was decided that it would be too high a risk to keep the stadium in the Fifa Confederations Cup schedule."
Khoza went on to say the stadium had been one of the "star performers" of the Fifa World Cup construction phase and that it would be "a wonderful venue" in 2010.
Valcke added that a decision would be taken in September on whether another stadium would replace the one in Nelson Mandela Bay.
The metro was to host the Confederations Cup together with Johannesburg, Tshwane, Rustenburg and Mangaung.
The event, seen by many around the world as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup the following year, will pit eight nations against each other from 14 to 28 June 2009. They are South Africa, Italy, Egypt, Spain, USA, Brazil, Iraq and the winners of the Oceania cup.
Source: City of Johannesburg
