FIFA Visits
South Africa
A team from football's world
governing body, FIFA, has ended its visit to South
Africa to check on preparations for the Year 2010
World Cup. The three-day visit by FIFA officials
was the first since stadium construction began in
earnest at the beginning of the year.
The delegation visited four of the
nine host cities starting with Johannesburg's Soccer
City, venue for both the opening match and the
final, which has been undergoing a major renovation.
They then travelled to Port Elizabeth
and Cape Town to see progress on new stadiums in the
coastal cities.
The inspection team ended the tour in
Durban, where the draw for the qualifying
competition will be held on 25 November.
"We are sure the inspection team found a lot of
progress had been made since the last tour a year
ago, particularly in the areas of stadium
construction,"
Local Organising Committee Chief Executive Officer,
Danny Jordaan said.
FIFA General Secretary, Jerome Valcke
said: "We must be realistic to the fact that there
is still a lot of work to be done between now and
2010.”
"But I want to stress that FIFA continues to have
unflinching confidence in South Africa and together
we shall undertake to make this first African FIFA
World Cup the tremendous success we know it will
be,"
he added.
The results of the visit will be
released at a board meeting on the 16th
of October.