All roads will lead to South Africa from June 11th-July 11th 2010, as the world will witness the greatest event of the year FIFA World Cup 2010 and South Africa was honoured to host the entire event on its soil for the first time in the history of the game.
The spectacular event is a golden opportunity for South Africa to get global attention and they have introduced various programmes that will boost the game of soccer in the nation, reach out to the rest of the world with the game and thus strengthening the country’s future in the sport. South Africa just got lucky with Soccer World Cup 2010; the entire world’s eye will be centred on the nation to grab the most exciting matches of soccer in which 32 national teams from different parts of the globe will participate.
How South Africa got selected?
The game of football in South Africa is dated back to the 19th century and the first club for the game was started in 1879 and since then the sport of soccer has come a long way in South Africa. Due to apartheid isolation South Africa did not participate in International tournaments for almost three decades and it has been only 15 years since it is actively participating in the world of soccer. The national team Bafana Bafana has qualified twice in the World Cup Finals and has won the CAF Africa Cup of Nations.
Africa was selected to host the World Cup 2010 finals in wake of the new policy, which rotates the event among all confederations. South Africa was one of five African nations to bid for Soccer World Cup 2010 and the other countries were Egypt, Libya/Tunisia and Morocco. Tunisia withdrew from the bidding process as co-hosting of the event was not allowed by the FIFA and so Libya was also not considered, as it did not meet the official requirements of the federation. And South Africa bagged the opportunity; it won the bid in one round of voting and FIFA’s President Sepp Blatter made an official announcement of the same on the 15th of May 2004 in Zurich.
‘Win in Africa with Africa’ project
The concept of ‘Win in Africa with Africa’ project took off on the 15th of May 2004 during the same time when the FIFA committee chose South Africa to be the host nation for the Soccer World Cup 2010 but the project was officially announced on the 7th of July 2006. This particular project will not only promote and develop the game of soccer in the country but also will give the country a strong foundation to build a better future for the game. The entire project is initiated with a budget mounting to $70 million.
The United Nations along with European Union has hugely supported this project and the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan signed the document of ‘Win In Africa with Africa’ on 7th July 2006. The governing body of soccer has taken this noble step towards assisting the African continent with the game of soccer. And the aim of this project does not limit to providing financial aid to the African continent but it also includes in supporting it with skills and tools for self-development in the sport.
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The count down for the soccer World Cup 2010 South Africa has started. Every soccer fan is awaiting the big soccer festival. You might want to check about each and every FIFA 2010 game including team news, results, feature stories, stats, live scores and highlights. We look forward to interacting with all soccer fans during the big soccer world cup season.world cup season.
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