World Cup stadiums passing the test

Just as the world’s football players have to be put through their paces in the build up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, so too do the new stadiums. And with just over 100 days left until the tournament gets underway, all but two have successfully hosted major sporting events.

While there are 10 stadiums in total that will host FIFA World Cup matches, five of them are new and one - Soccer City - has received a massive upgrade.

Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee, Dr Danny Jordaan, said there was never any doubt that the stadiums would be ready. "We always knew that our stadiums would be ready and not only that, we knew that they would be among the best the world has seen."

Jordaan said each stadium in its own right was a triumph for South Africa. "Soccer City is a marvel of design and construction and everyone who has visited this stadium has said it is among the best in the world. Green Point stadium must have the most picturesque setting of any in the world and Durban, with its magnificent arch and cable car, has transformed that city’s skyline forever.

"We always knew that our stadiums would be ready and not only that, we knew that they would be among the best the world has seen. " Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan

"Nelson Mandela Bay completed their stadium one year ahead of the tournament kick-off and the Peter Mokaba and Mbombela stadiums will give the tournament an African flavour with designs which take inspiration from the baobab tree and South Africa’s amazing wildlife.”

Since the FIFA Confederations Cup, the Nelson Mandela Bay, Green Point, Durban and Peter Mokaba stadiums have more than proved their readiness. And with events planned for Soccer City in Johannesburg and Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit in March there can be no doubt that all the stadiums will be match ready well in advance of the 11 June kickoff.

On 26 January the two Cape Town Premier Soccer League (PSL) teams, Ajax Cape Town and Santos, battled it out on the newly laid pitch of Green Point, in front of 20,000 fans. That same weekend the Peter Mokaba Stadium hosted the first installment of what will become the annual Peter Mokaba Cup. The tournament had an international flavour, with Danish club side Brondby facing up to South African Premier Soccer League sides Kaizer Chiefs, Wits and Supersport United.

Durban’s official opening match was held on 29 November the cities two PSL teams, AmaZulu FC and Maritzburg United, clashed in front of tens of thousands of people.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium hosted its first major event on 6 June 2009, when the British and Irish Lions rugby team played a provincial rugby team. On 28 February the stadium will host a CAF Champions League match between Orlando Pirates and Gaborone United.

- FIFA.com

World Cup 2010: 460 New Buses For South Africa

World Cup fever means big bus business for Mercedes-Benz South Africa after its parent company secured a contract to deliver 460 buses to be used in the tournament next year.

According to a report in East London’s Daily Dispatch, Germany’s Daimler yesterday announced that the contract was signed with Autopax, a subsidiary of the PRASA (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa).

A total of 570 new buses will be added to the Autopax fleet at a total cost of R1.4 billion to the Department of Transport.

The 460 buses awarded to Daimler are divided into 168 inter-city coaches and 292 semi-luxury coaches, and will be delivered by April next year to Autopax in Johannesburg.

Parts of the buses are to be manufactured in Brazil, with final assembly at MBSA’s East London plant.

In 2008, the capacity of the dedicated bus line at the EL plant received an R11 million boost from Daimler. Once the World Cup is over, the buses will form part of Autopax’s Translux and City-to-City fleet.

MBSA president and CEO Dr Hansgeorg Niefer said, "The increased fleet will create at least 300 new jobs," according to Kickoff.com.

Both the inter-city and semi-luxury coaches – which seat 61 and 52 people respectively – are fitted with seat-belts, air-conditioning, entertainment equipment including DVD and MP3 players and monitors, and microphone facilities.

Source: Goal.com

Durban Stadium

Name:	Durban Stadium
City:	Durban
Construction:	new
Completion:	2009
Gross Capacity:	70 000

This newly-built Moses Mabhida Stadium located at Durban will host one of the semi-finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This world-class and multifunctional arena is designed as a multi-purpose venue and an amphitheatre complete with a cable car which ascends to a viewing platform at the top of the expansive 350m arch, a staggering 106m above the pitch.

Capello Dreamed Italy-England in World Cup Finals

Fabio Capello has revealed that he is dreaming of an England-Italy final in 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The Italian is confident his England team have the quality to go all the way in South Africa and admits his home nation would be his dream opponents in the final in Johannesburg on 11 July. Speaking to French television station Canal Plus, he said: "I would love a final between England and Italy. For Italy, for me and for all of us.

"The strangest moment would be during the national anthems. But, I am wearing a different shirt now and I must work for the England shirt."

Capello, whose side have been drawn to face USA, Algeria and Slovenia in the group phase, added: "My team is strong. The fans are proud of what we've done, as are we. There's a World Cup to play for and our goal is to reach the final."

The former AC Milan, Real Madrid and Roma coach reiterated his no-nonsense stance towards discipline and will demand respect be shown for everyone at all times by his players. "I don't accept lack of respect. That means be on time, respect the dressing room code and table manners," he added.

"They are necessary rules to create a group. Functioning in this manner at clubs that I managed has always given results. You must have respect for the people you work with - even those with more modest jobs, the guy who brings the papers, the guy who washes the kit."

Source: FIFA.com

Green Point stadium ready for 2010 FIFA World Cup

Keys to the brand new Cape Town Stadium will be handed over to the city’s Executive Mayor Alderman Dan Plato ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup today.

“Just over a week after the successful hosting of the Final Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Cape Town will witness another momentous event – the handing over of the brand new Cape Town Stadium (Green Point stadium) to the City of Cape Town.

“At a special ceremony to mark the completion of one of the world’s most spectacular stadiums, the ‘keys’ will be handed by the main contractors, Murray and Roberts and WBHO, to Cape Town’s Executive Mayor, Alderman Dan Plato,” the city said in a statement on Monday.

Construction of the 68 000-seater stadium started on 26 March 2007, and the project has been completed on deadline two years and nine months later.

In just 33 months, joint contractors Murray and Roberts and WBHO completed the massive project at a cost of 4.4 billion rand (about 600 million dollars).

The project architects were an association between GMP Architects of Germany and two local firms, Louis Karol and Associates and Point Architects.

Green Point stadium

The design: The sweeping silhouette of the Green Point stadium has forever changed the face of the surrounding Green Point Common.

Enwrapped by a façade of woven fibreglass, coated with Teflon, it will resemble a rose-coloured bowl floating on a base, when lit up at night. The architects have dubbed the stadium “the Diva of Cape Town”, reflecting the constantly changing moods of the city in varying weather conditions.

The roof: The design and construction of the roof is unique. Its basic structure resembled a bicycle wheel, open in the middle with 72 cables linking the outer and inner rings of the circle were slowly tightened to raise the roof from ground level to its present height.

Another first for the roof is the use of 16mm thick panels of glass to cover and protect the spectators from strong winds and rain. This will let in the light while the ceiling panels underneath – made of woven PVC fabric - will soften the noise from within.

The stadium bowl: For the eight World Cup matches to be played at the venue, the stadium will have a seating capacity of 68,000, including 13,000 temporary seats which will be removed afterwards. Features of the stadium are that it can be evacuated in 15 minutes and that all the spectators are close to the game.

Safety: Spectators will be protected by a state-of-the-art camera surveillance system which is monitored by police in the Venue Operations Centre inside the stadium, while pitch invasions are discouraged by a wide moat around the circumference. There is also a police station inside the building to deal with hooligans and other criminals.

Quick facts:

* 96,000 cubic metres of concrete were used
* The roof has a total weight of 4,700 tons
* Some 9,000 glass panels were used to cover 37,000 square metres of roof
* 500 toilets and 360 urinals
* 115 entry turnstiles
* 16 lifts
* More than 2,500 workers were employed on site during construction, and almost 1,200 artisans received training from the contractors

Source: FIFA.com

Owen can make South Africa in World Cup

Sir Alex Ferguson has told Michael Owen not to give up on his 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa dream. The striker hoping to retain his starting spot for Manchester United's Premier League encounter with Aston Villa tomorrow, following his memorable hat-trick for the Red Devils in Tuesday's UEFA Champions League win over Wolfsburg.

Although it has shot the 29-year-old back to prominence, the general view is that his efforts have come too late to get him on the plane to the world finals next summer. Fabio Capello has overlooked Owen completely since the friendly defeat in France, which will be two years ago by the time England are next in action - probably against Egypt - on 3 March.

In that time, Jermain Defoe has established himself as the back-up to Wayne Rooney, who is certain to be in Capello's 23-man squad, while Owen hardly fits the bill of a bulldozing attacker, such as Emile Heskey or Carlton Cole. Nevertheless, Ferguson thinks his No7 could still force his way in.

"Fabio has said himself, performance is the only thing that matters," said Ferguson. "If Michael is going to get to the World Cup it will be through his performance and I think Wednesday helps him.

"There is a view that he will not have played enough games. But he will play a sufficient number to be considered. That is the best chance he has got. That is all he can hope for."

While England's FIFA World Cup fate is clearly not Ferguson's concern, he does understand that if Owen scores enough goals to reach his fourth trip to the greatest tournament on the planet, United will have been the beneficiaries. The former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Newcastle United player has scored so often down the years that his first hat-trick for the Red Devils will not have provided a particular confidence boost.

However, with his third goal in particular, when Owen collected Gabriel Obertan's short pass and raced towards the Wolfsburg goal from halfway before expertly chipping home, Ferguson saw the killer instinct that was evident so early in his career.

"It was vintage Michael Owen," said the Scot. "He had the cleverness to cut across the defender, forcing him to think about whether to bring him down, which would have meant a penalty and a red card.

"The guy could not afford to tackle him because at that point, Wolfsburg were still in the Champions League. The goalkeeper came out but Michael waited and chipped him when he went down. It was brilliant."

Source: FIFA.com

500,000 Tickets Requested So Far in FIFA World Cup

The third ticketing sales phase for the 2010 FIFA World Cup has seen the number of tickets applied for hit the 500,000 mark within the first ten days. 386,300 of those tickets were requested by South African residents (77 per cent of the total applications), while 114,237 tickets applied for came from the rest of the world.

At the moment, USA leads the list of foreign countries for this sales phase with 22,942 tickets, followed by the UK (20,232), Mexico (7,981), Germany (7,697) , Australia (6,277) and Brazil (4,760). In total, applications from 166 countries have been received (the figures do not include the participating member associations allocated ticket sales).

“In comparison with the previous editions of the FIFA World Cups, the latest ticket applications figures are impressive,” commented Horst R. Schmidt, Chairman of the FIFA Ticketing Sub-Committee. “The number of domestic applications have increased significantly. By buying a ticket, South Africans buy not only a seat to watch a match, but also their spot in South African history”, added Danny Jordaan, Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa.

Applications for individual match tickets or Team-Specific Series can be made via the link on the right. South African residents have an option to apply for tickets at FNB branches across the country. The current third Ticket Sales Phase will run until 22 January 2010. In total, around one million tickets for all 64 matches and categories are made available in the third sales phase – including a limited number for the opening match and the final. Please note, all applications within the sales phase will be treated equally. In an event of over-subscribed matches or (price) categories, there will be an electronic random selection draw on 1 February 2010.

The prices for group matches range from USD 20 to USD 160 (opening match: USD 70 - USD 450; final: USD 150 – USD 900) or ZAR 140 to ZAR 1,120 (opening match: ZAR 490 – ZAR 3,150; final: ZAR 1,050 – ZAR 6,300). The category 4 tickets, the most affordable, have been exclusively set aside for South African residents.

Moreover, all 32 participating member associations have started to sell their allocated Team-Specific Tickets (12 per cent of all purchasable tickets in the stadiums for the three group games of the respective team). These tickets are made available through specified websites operated by the respective federations. For this specific ticket sales process, applications close on 13 January 2010. For more detailed information, go to https://pmatickets.fifa.com.

Source: FIFA.com