Fred Vubem
30 June 2009
The succesful hosting of the confederations Cup was a litmus test for the rain bow nation.
In exactly a year's time, the opening match of the 2010 World Cup will be played at the 94,000 Soccer City stadium on the outskirts of Soweto in Johannesburg. Despite initial doubts about the capacity of the rainbow nation to host such a tournament, there is no talk again about plan B, as South Africa through the successive hosting of the FIFA Confederations Cup has proved that they are not only able but ready to host the world football jamboree.
Tournament chief Danny Jordan says "The stadiums are just about ready, tickets are being sold and all of our plans are in place. The dream is reality, the game is on."
Five brand new stadiums have been constructed including Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, the venues in Durban, Polkwane and Nelspruit are expected to be completed by October and the fifth, Green Point in Cape Town, is set to open in February next year.
The showpiece venue, Soccer City, has been upgraded so much that it is practically another brand new stadium. The four other World Cup venues Ellis Park, Loftus Versfeld, Royal Bafokeng and Free State have equally been upgraded and hosted Confederations Cup matches. Several of the stadia are stunning. Moses Mabhida in Durban has a towering arch reminiscent of Wembley and a cable car to the beach front. Green Point is the only stadium in the world to have a glass roof, according to Cape Town's 2010 technical director Dave Hugo, and Soccer City has a distinctive design inspired by African pottery
Fears about South Africa's crime problem resurfaced during the confederation cup as players from Egypt and Brazil complained about burglary in their hotels. This hasn't stopped fans from buying tickets for the World Cup, with more than 630,000 already sold to fans in 188 countries.
Organisers estimate that 430,000 fans will descend on South Africa next June which raises problems of accommodation. Fifa says a total of 55,000 rooms will be needed and that 40,000 are already secured, from guesthouses to five-star hotels. Organisers say Nelspruit and Polokwane have posed the biggest problem in terms of accommodation and that fans will have to be bussed in and out of the matches there, mainly from nearby game reserves like Kruger. There has been huge government investment in transport ahead of the World Cup, with R11bn spent on road building, a light rail network from Johannesburg airport to the Sandton business area, airport expansions and the manufacturing of 1,000 new buses. There is also a rapid rail link from Johannesburg to Pretoria, which was started in September 2006.
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