SA World Cup bid on track

The CEO of South Africa’s 2010 World Cup bid, Danny Jordaan, returned from his one-month trip abroad to inform and assure South Africans that the bid was still on track despite the shenanigans in the South African Football Association (Safa).

Jordaan said: ‘As I speak to you now I have no doubt that our case is still strong.”

This is after Jordaan had been assured by some of the Fifa executive members that South Africa was still a front-runner.

Jordaan alleviated fears that arose because of Tunisia’s African Cup of Nations win a few weeks ago. Some fans felt this would give Tunisa an advantage in the race to host the World Cup in 2010.

Jordaan said a different criterion will be used to judge the five African countries bidding to host the World Cup. 

He gave examples of countries, such as Germany, who lost in the first round of the European championship in 2000 but went on to be voted by the 24 Fifa members in 2002 to host the 2006 World Cup.

Germany was not the only country. South Korea and Japan bombed out in the first round of the 1998 World Cup but were given the rights to host the 2002 World Cup. 

The next opportunity for an African country to host the World Cup will be in 2034. 

Jordaan said: ‘On-the-field performance does not necessarily guarantee you the right to host the World Cup.”

He said that what was needed by Fifa in order for a country to host the World Cup were things such as infrastructure and commercial viability, among others.

There is, therefore, still hope that South Africa will be given the rights to host the first-ever World Cup on African soil in 2010. 

Jordaan will resume South Africa’s bidding and lobbying process for the 2010 World Cup next week when he goes to Russia to make a presentation to one of the Fifa executive members. 

Then, in April, he will attend the Union of European Football Association congress in Cyprus where he will lobby the eight European members who have a vote in choosing the 2010 host country. 

Jordaan said: ‘The key, as it was in choosing the 2006 hosts, is Europe as they have a big influence in deciding who will host the 2010 World Cup.”

The bid executive officer said that the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football would decide which African country they supported and would vote for after their congress in May. 

After his presentation at that congress, Jordaan will go on to the Asian congress and make a presentation.  

The final presentation by South Africa will be made to the Fifa executive committee on May 14, before the announcement on May 15.