| WC pay-out not for bonuses – 25/07/2010 |
The R1-billion windfall SAFA will receive from FIFA for hosting the 2010 World Cup will not be spent on bonuses for soccer or government officials. The Times reports that the money, which is expected to be paid at the end of September, will be controlled by a trust and specific projects will be earmarked for funding, according to SAFA president Kirsten Nematandani. He said SAFA officials met FIFA president Sepp Blatter and FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke two days after the World Cup final and their instructions were clear.
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Full report in The Timesreport
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| Jordaan joins FIFA inspection team - 21/07/2010 |
2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) head Danny Jordaan has joined the Fifa World Cup inspection team. He accepted a commission from Fifa to join its inspection team to run the rule over prospective 2018 and 2022 World Cup venues in Australia, Japan, Russia, England, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland and the United States. He leaves for Australia on Saturday and will be in and out of the country during the next couple of months while on Fifa business, he said in a telephone interview.
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Full Mail & Guardian Online report
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| SAFA still in the dark - 21/07/2010 |
SAFA’s top brass says they are still in the dark as to how much money they will receive from FIFA for staging the 2010 World Cup. Sport24 reports that several recent reports claimed that the local footballing body would pocket R1bn, yet SAFA vice-president Mandla Mazibuko insists a figure has yet to be determined. ’The issue of a billion is neither here nor there. At this point in time we don’t know what is there (to be given to SAFA),’ he said during a meeting with the National Assembly’s sport and recreation committees. Mazibuko added that any money they received would be used for development.
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Full Sport24 report
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| Goal-line technology not on the agenda – 19/07/2010 |
Goal-line technology will not be on the agenda when FIFA meet in Wales later this week; contrary to indications by president Sepp Blatter during the 2010 World Cup. Kick Off reports that the technical sub-committee of the International Football Association Board will meet in Cardiff but, as planned back in May, there will only be one item on the agenda and that will be the continuing experiment with additional assistant referees. Blatter announced during the World Cup finals that goal-line technology had to be discussed once again at the ’first opportunity’ and indicated that would take place this month.
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Full Kick Off report
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| FIFA imposes tighter WC rules - 16/07/2010 |
FIFA has imposed tighter transparency rules on soccer World Cup bidders to help ensure a clean fight for the rights to host the tournament in 2018 and 2022. Sport24 reports that World football’s governing body has told the nine bid teams they must write explaining why they need access to the 24 members of FIFA’s Executive Committee - or those members’ national associations - who will choose the host nations in December. ’We would like to inform you about a new policy we ask you to strictly respect,’ said FIFA.
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Full Sport24 report
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| FIFA condemns Ugandan attack - 13/07/2010 |
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has condemned the bombings that killed 70 people watching the World Cup final in Uganda and expressed the hope that soccer could be a force for good around the globe. ’You can never stop in the world crimes, attacks, even when we think that during the World Cup the world should have stopped and the world should only have been touched by the emotions ...that football has given,’ the head of soccer’s governing body told a news conference. Ugandan authorities blamed Somali Islamists for two attacks in Kampala that killed soccer fans watching the final in which Spain beat the Netherlands to take the trophy on Sunday night.
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Full report on the News24 site
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| Blatter vindicated - Zuma - 12/07/2010 |
President Jacob Zuma on Monday said FIFA president Sepp Blatter had been vindicated because of his strong belief in South Africa’s ability to host the World Cup. ’Our hosting of this historic FIFA World Cup on African soil vindicates Mr Blatter’s strong conviction that we were capable of delivering a spectacular and successful event,’ he told journalists at a post World Cup briefing in Sandton, Johannesburg. Zuma said it was an ’emotional moment’ for the country, but it had shown the world it had what it took to compete with the best.
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Full Sport24 report
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| FIFA may compensate fans – 08/07/2010 |
FIFA may compensate fans who missed Spain’s World Cup semi-final win over Germany because of congestion at Durban’s new airport. Sport24 reports that hundreds of fans had their flights delayed or turned away from King Shaka International Airport on Wednesday after an increase in private jets contributed to all the landing slots being filled. FIFA spokesperson Nicolas Maingot says the football body will definitely look at the cases of fans affected by flight problems.
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Full Sport24 report
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| SA fan sees record of 38 matches - 08/07/2010fan |
Thulani Ngcobo will have travelled 17 000 kilometres, endured vitamin jabs to boost his sleep-deprived system, and can no longer face a FIFA-sanctioned stadium hotdog, notes a report on the France24 site. But on Sunday, the World Cup final will be the football fanatic’s 38th match, after winning an uber-fan challenge’s grand prize that made him the Guinness World Records holder for most games watched at football’s biggest event.
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Full report on the France24 site
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| FIFA to defend third place match - 08/07/2010 |
FIFA insists it has no plans to scrap the 2010 World Cup third-place play-off, claiming the match still offers ’prestige and pride’. Sport24 reports that Oscar Tabarez’s Uruguay and Joachim Loew’s Germany will contest this game after losing their respective semi-finals to Holland and Germany. They will meet on Saturday at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium but critics have labelled the match as pointless, with the belief that players would rather be on holiday.
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Full Sport24 report
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| 14 heads of state to attend final - 07/07/2010 |
Fourteen heads of state were confirmed to attend the 2010 World Cup final, the department of international relations and co-operation said. Sport24 reports that those attending included King Letsie of Lesotho, King Mswati of Swaziland, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba and Comoros President Ahmed Abdullah Mohamed Sambi. The presidents of Malawi, Burundi, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea and Djibouti were also expected.
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Full Sport24 report
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| Dutch team not homeless, says FIFA – 07/07/2010 |
The Dutch team will not be left homeless for the last leg of the 2010 World Cup, said FIFA. The team’s stay at their base camp, the Hilton Hotel in Sandton, had been extended to July 9, after which they will use the ’venue-specific team hotel’ in the city in which they will play, notes a report in The Citizen. It was commenting after reports that the Dutch Football Association booked rooms only until July 5, not anticipating that the team would make it deeper into the tournament, and that the hotel they had stayed in was now fully booked.
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Full report in The Citizenreport
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| Nigeria move to avoid FIFA ban - 05/07/2010 |
Nigeria’s FA have sacked two of their top brass in a bid to avoid a FIFA ban.
The FA said president Sani Lulu and vice-president Amanze Ugbulam had both gone and begged the nation’s leader Goodluck Jonathan to reconsider refusing to allow the side to play any more internationals over their 2010 World Cup flop. FIFA are threatening to suspend Nigeria because of political interference if President Jonathan does not back down.
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Full report in The Sun
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| World Cup needs technology – 04/07/2010 |
FIFA will reconsider relevant technological equipment for the future, says FIFA president Blatter. FIFA will reconsider the use of goal-line technology for soccer games at its 21 July meeting, in Cardiff. FIFA president Sepp Blatter, speaking at a press roundtable, said from the beginning of the 2010 World Cup the decision was taken by the International Football Association board not to implement goal-line technology. However, after controversial refereeing decisions during England’s match against Germany and Argentina’s match against Mexico, talks have been raised about goal-line technology and its possible assistance in determining the legitimacy of goals.
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Full ITWeb report
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| No case against Ronaldo - 03/03/2010 |
FIFA will not discipline Cristiano Ronaldo for spitting as he left the field after Portugal’s second-round loss against Spain. FIFA says its disciplinary committee found no grounds to open a case against the Portugal captain. Ronaldo was being followed by a television cameraman filming him after the final whistle of his team’s 1-0 defeat in Cape Town on Tuesday.
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Full Sport24 report
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| Zuma and Blatter happy with WC – 02/07/2010 |
President Jacob Zuma said he was happy with the way the World Cup had progressed so far and was excited about the knockout stages of the tournament. Zuma was speaking after a meeting with FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who also commended the South African public for their hospitality and the atmosphere they had created for the visitors. ’As you will be aware, we were consulting with Mr Blatter before the World Cup and during the tournament I went away for some days. Today we were discussing various issues and he also briefed me about the logistics leading up to the final of the World Cup,’ said Zuma.
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Full Pretoria News report
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| Nigeria given 48 hours to overturn ban - 02/07/2010 |
FIFA issued Nigeria with an ultimatum to reverse their decision to suspend the national football team from international competition or have their Fifa membership suspended within 48 hours, notes a report on the IoL site. Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke said: ’If the Nigerian government is not moving back we will have to suspend Nigeria.’ ’The decision will be made in the next 48 hours," he added.
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Full report on the IOL site
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| FIFA urged to move with the times - 30/06/2010 |
Companies ready to cash in if FIFA accepts goalline technology after World Cup refereeing howlers say they are not yet convinced soccer’s governing body will adopt measures common in other sports. According to a report on the IoL site, England and Mexico fell victim to mistakes by officials in their second-round matches on Sunday, prompting an apology from Fifa president Sepp Blatter and the decision not to retain the refs who made them for the rest of the tournament.
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Full report on the IOL sitereport
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| FIFA Fan Fests a big success - 30/06/2010Fests |
The FIFA fan fests were a huge success with attendance approaching the four million mark as the World Cup entered the quarter finals, notes a News24 report. FIFA spokesperson Nicolas Maingot said about 1.7 million people had attended fan fests in South Africa, while more than two million had attended in Paris, Rio, Berlin, Rome, Mexico and Sydney. ’We are definitely happy with the fan fests. It was a tremendous success in Germany with 18 million visitors,’ he told journalists at Soccer City.
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Full report on the News24 site
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| Government ignores FIFA threat - 30/06/2010 |
A threat by FIFA to ban France’s national and club teams from international competition if the government did not stay out of soccer affairs failed to stop political debate over France’s World Cup debacle. The Times reports that FIFA President Sepp Blatter warned that soccer’s governing body would suspend the French Football Federation (FFF) if France’s politicians interfered in its business. If France were suspended, the country would be banned from international tournaments and French clubs could not take part in European competitions.
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Full report in The TimesThe
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| Blundering refs sent home - 30/06/2010Blundering |
Uruguay’s Jorge Larrionda and Italy’s Roberto Rosetti, whose blunders have prompted FIFA to rethink using video technology, won’t play any further part in the 2010 World Cup. Sport24 reports that they were left off the list of 19 referees announced by FIFA on Tuesday to take part in the rest of the competition although football’s world governing body gave no explanation.
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Full Sport24 report
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| FIFA castigated for rights abuses - 29/06/2010 |
FIFA should be held to account about its treatment of street vendors, many of whom have suffered loss of income during the World Cup, a leading global human rights campaigner said. Mary Robinson, a former president of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the move by Fifa to set up exclusion zones near the World Cup stadiums was a human rights issue that needed to be addressed. Speaking to Business Report on the sidelines of the Fortune Global Forum in Cape Town, Robinson said it was critical to devise a way to protect the rights of the street vendors and informal traders, particularly in the developing world, so they can continue to eke out a living, unhindered by the staging of such major events as the World Cup.
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Full story in Business Report
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| Police confirm FIFA HQ robbery – 29/06/2010 |
A robbery at the FIFA headquarters in Johannesburg was confirmed by national police commissioner General Bheki Cele on Tuesday, notes a Sport24 report. ’Yes we know there was burglary there. We are looking into it,’ said Cele. He said seven trophy replicas and two jerseys had been taken during the incident which led police to believe that the crime was perpetrated by people familiar with the offices. It was not immediately clear when the incident took place. Meanwhile Cele said since the start of the World Cup 316 people had been arrested, 207 of them South Africans, for tournament related crime.
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Full Sport24 report
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| SA stands up against FIFA’s rules - 29/06/2010 |
Amid the mountains of official World Cup kit on sale, frustrated South Africans are snapping up ’FEEFA 2.010 WHIRLD CUP’ T-shirts as they ridicule FIFA’s strict enforcement of its marketing rules. According to Business Report, while giants images of Cristiano Ronaldo and Robinho clad in Nike sportswear dominate the Johannesburg skyline, FIFA’s determination to stop smaller fish from associating themselves with the World Cup has rankled its hosts. ’South Africa is no longer ruled by the rule of law. South Africa at the moment is ruled by FIFA,’ said intellectual property rights lawyer Tim Burrell.
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Full story in Business Report
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| Word of warning for Sarkozy – 29/06/2010 |
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has warned French leader Nicolas Sarkozy that the country’s national team risks suspension from global competition if he meddles in the running of the side. Blatter says the French football federation cannot rely on protection from politicians – ’even if it is at the presidential level.’ Blatter says he is sending a ’clear and clean message’ to the French government and President Sarkozy.
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Full Sport24 report
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| Blatter to reopen goal-line technology file - 29/06/2010 |
Fifa president Sepp Blatter apologised for the refereeing mistakes that have blighted the 2010 World Cup and promised to look again at introducing goal-line technology, notes a Mail & Guardian report. ’It is obvious that after the experiences so far at this World Cup it would be nonsense not to reopen the file on goal-line technology,’ Blatter said. ’I deplore when you see the evident referees’ mistakes. It has not been a five-star game for referees. I am distressed by the evident referees’ mistakes. I have expressed my apologies.’
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Full report on the Mail and Guardian site
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| FIFA guns for ticket website - 28/06/2010 |
A US-based website has come under fire from Fifa after launching a ticket transfer portal for World Cup fans who want to buy and resell their tickets. A spokesperson for the website, socoza.com, who said they had already received two warning letters from the world football body, has dismissed the allegations. ’We are not breaking any rules,’ South African-based legal adviser Joel Shoot told News24 explaining that the website did not actually sell any tickets but provided a platform for fans to communicate with each other and exchange tickets.
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Full report on the News24 site
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