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/ 30 May 2008

Decade of a dream

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.

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/ 27 May 2008

Fifa: SA violence won’t affect World Cup

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.

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/ 27 May 2008

Blatter presses on with foreign quota plan

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.

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/ 14 May 2008

South Africa’s 2010 windfall

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.

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/ 8 May 2008

Funding crisis clouds World Cup TV plans

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.

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/ 7 May 2008

Bafana under Fifa spotlight

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.

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/ 2 May 2008

2010 stadiums on track

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.

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/ 30 April 2008

Ronaldo in hiding after incident with sex-workers

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.

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/ 24 April 2008

Maradona throws punch in scuffle with reporters

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.

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/ 21 April 2008

Parreira says goodbye to South Africa

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.

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/ 18 April 2008

Diplomatic ball skills

”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.

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/ 9 April 2008

Minister upbeat about SA transport for 2010

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.

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/ 2 April 2008

Play the ball rather than the man

"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.

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/ 31 March 2008

Fifa: Free public viewing of 2010 World Cup

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.

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/ 29 March 2008

DRC may lose home advantage in Cup qualifiers

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.

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/ 27 March 2008

UN agency ousts record number of cybersquatters

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.

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/ 26 March 2008

Zille: Green Point Stadium on track

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.

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/ 25 March 2008

‘Rock bottom’ Bafana tackle Paraguay

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.

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/ 21 March 2008

Tunisian giants enter battleground

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.

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/ 18 March 2008

World Cup bill rises past R30bn

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.

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/ 14 March 2008

Modise ‘out of his depth at the LOC’

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.

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/ 14 March 2008

NUM tackles Fifa

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.

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/ 13 March 2008

ANC: Build SA’s 2010 team now

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.

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/ 13 March 2008

DG of World Cup government unit steps down

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.

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/ 12 March 2008

Blatter lends ear to NUM

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.