A plagiarism scandal has rocked the sports world and cast fresh doubt over the influence of the industry in research on head injuries. It also stirred up old allegations that sporting bodies have underplayed the risk of an incurable disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Chad have been thrown out of the African Nations Cup after African soccer’s governing body blamed them for causing an unnecessary postponement of their World Cup qualifier against neighbours Sudan last weekend.
It is 10 years since the South Africa Football Association (Safa) first announced its intention to host the sport’s biggest showpiece, the World Cup. Today, the idea, first mooted by former Safa president Solomon ”Stix” Morewa, is less than 740 days from being realised. The Mail & Guardian tracks the history of South Africa’s biggest sporting fantasy.
Manchester United have threatened to report Real Madrid to Fifa as the row over the Spanish club’s bid to sign Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo turns ugly. United have been increasingly frustrated by Real’s attempts to lure Ronaldo to the Bernabeu in the last year.
World soccer governing body Fifa expressed its concern on Tuesday about this month’s deadly attacks on foreigners in South Africa, but said the violence would not affect the 2010 World Cup. The attacks have raised concerns about the high crime rate in South Africa and the potential risk to foreigners who visit the country for the soccer tournament in 2010.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter will forge ahead with plans to curb the number of foreign players at soccer clubs, saying on Tuesday that the organisation should coral the world of sport into helping make it happen. The Swiss head of world soccer’s governing body insisted that Fifa would not be ”going into confrontation” with any employment laws.
As the sun set on another bloody day of xenophobic violence in Gauteng on Monday, at least 22 people were reported dead, many more injured and 217 arrested for fierce attacks on both foreigners and local residents living in the greater Johannesburg area. Aid organisations were assisting thousands of refugees at civic centres and police stations.
The South African economy could see a turnover in excess of R40-billion during the Soccer World Cup finals, which kick off at the new Soccer City in Johannesburg in June 2010. In an interview on Wednesday, chairperson of the 2010 local organising committee Irvin Khoza was upbeat that South Africa will host the best World Cup in history.
From its dangerously empty coffers in the late 1970s to the multibillion-dollar revenues from the Beijing 2008 Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has managed a remarkable commercial transformation of its prime product, the Olympic Games.
A funding crunch could delay South Africa’s plans to have digital broadcasting in place for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the chief executive of state-run telecommunications firm Sentech said on Thursday. World soccer governing body Fifa has demanded that South Africa use a high-definition digital format when it begins broadcasting the World Cup matches.
Bafana Bafana’s new coach, Joel Santana, will have to earn his huge salary when he arrives in Johannesburg next week to take over from fellow Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira. Santana was warned by world football governing body Fifa that it expected Bafana to shine at both the Confederations Cup next year and the 2010 World Cup finals.
Come May 6, officials from Nelson Mandela Bay municipality are confident that they will leave the South African Football Association smiling after world football governing body Fifa and the 2010 local organising committee agree that their stadium will be able to host matches for the 2009 Confederations Cup.
Ronaldo went into hiding on Tuesday after an encounter with cross-dressing sex-workers that prompted police to investigate whether to charge one with trying to extort money from the three-time Fifa player of the year. The AC Milan striker, in Brazil recovering from a knee surgery, cancelled two TV appearances, and local media said he will continue physiotherapy at his home.
The provinces of Mpumalanga in South Africa and Maputo in Mozambique provinces signed a cooperation agreement on Thursday relating to economy, health and agriculture, the office of Premier Thabang Makwetla said. This forms part of continued efforts to strengthen bilateral relationships.
Diego Maradona threw a wild punch and some insults at a crush of local television reporters on Wednesday, who crowded him as he left a courthouse following an arbitration hearing with his former manager. Maradona and Guillermo Coppola, who have been enmeshed in a legal dispute over past business dealings, were summoned to appear at a hearing.
Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira announced his resignation on Monday as coach of 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa. World Cup-winning coach Parreira, who served 15 months of a three-and-a-half-year contract aimed at transforming the struggling national team, quit because his Brazil-based wife is ill after recent major surgery.
”The match scheduled today in the Jerusalem dormitory town of Mevaseret, might be recorded by future sports historians as one of those rare moments when sport was history, when sport made history.” Sean Thomas writes about how football in the Judean hills is thawing relations between Arabs and Israelis.
South Africa’s transport services are ”sure to improve dramatically” in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Wednesday. ”It will be a defining moment for our transport system,” he told reporters in Pretoria. The tournament will not be a world-class event if the majority of journeys by visitors are not completed efficiently, he said.
"The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> has attacked myself and my colleagues personally, basing its entire story on an anonymous ‘source’ clearly informed by his or her own agendas, without any substantiation." Tim Modise, World Cup LOC communications chief, says the <i>M&G </i>is focusing on personalities rather than the bigger picture.
South Africans will be able to watch the 2010 Soccer World Cup for free on South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) television or at public viewing events, Fifa announced on Monday. Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke said the SABC did not need a licence to broadcast the Fifa Confederations Cup in 2009 or the 2010 World Cup.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may have to play home World Cup qualifiers away from Kinshasa after being given an ultimatum to fix security infrastructure at the capital’s Martyrs stadium. The Congolese federation have been asked to name an alternate venue because Fifa are not satisfied that changes to improve the safety at the stadium had been implemented.
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) ousted a record number of cybersquatters from websites with domain names referring to trademarked companies, foundations and celebrities in 2007. Wipo, a United Nations agency based in Geneva, received 2 156 complaints alleging ”abusive registration of trademarks on the internet” last year.
Construction of the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town is on schedule and the city is in the process of selling naming rights and finding a long-term operator for it, mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday. The stadium is being built in preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and has been earmarked for a semifinal.
Seldom has a friendly international meant so much to 2010 Soccer World Cup hosts South Africa as that against Paraguay on Wednesday. Underperforming Bafana Bafana need a win to silence a growing band of critics, led by Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, Parliament sports committee chairperson Butana Komphela and several top first-division coaches.
The giants enter the African club battleground this weekend as second round combat begins in the two major competitions. Both title holders hail from Tunisia and enjoy home advantage with Etoile Sahel playing AS Douanes of Senegal in the African Champions League while CS Sfaxien meet JSM Bejaia of Algeria in the African Confederation Cup.
The South African government will spend ”upwards” of R30-billion on the 2010 Soccer World Cup, according to a report released on Tuesday. Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who received the report, admitted that ”in some instance” initial budget estimations were conservative.
The Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup 2008 qualifier in Durban next week has a vastly different feel to the previous two qualifying tournaments, as the sport goes into its third year of organised competition in Africa. At the World Cup in Rio, Senegal and Nigeria shocked the world by topping their respective groups.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has had enough of the 2010 stadium labour disputes and has now asked Fifa president Sepp Blatter to intervene. There have been a number of strikes over wage disputes by construction workers working on the Green Point stadium in Cape Town, Durban’s Moses Mabhida stadium and the Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit.
Tim Modise’s days at the 2010 local organising committee (LOC) are numbered and the only questions are whether he will fall on his own sword or be axed, say informed sources close to the LOC and in the government. The sources told the Mail & Guardian the one-time star broadcaster is struggling with his role as chief officer of communications and marketing.
Soccer players selected for the national team should be directly contracted by the South African Football Association, the African National Congress (ANC) said on Thursday. This would allow coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to work full-time for two years in preparing a winning team for 2010.
Joe Phaahla, the director general of the 2010 Fifa World Cup government unit, is stepping down. He has asked to be relieved of his three-year contract, which expires in August. In a statement on Thursday, the unit said Sport and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile has agreed to this, and Phaahla will leave the unit this month.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter showed his solidarity with the construction workers who are getting 10 stadiums in South Africa ready for the 2010 World Cup. Blatter met with leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Tuesday and said he wanted them to be treated fairly while building and upgrading World Cup venues.