FIFA Report - Global Fan Festivals for South Africa 2010; World Cup Courts

(WFI) The success of FIFA’s Fan Fest has led to its global expansion with seven cities over five continents added to the roster of nine South African cities for the 2010 World Cup.

Berlin, London, Mexico City, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Sydney have been unveiled as global Fan Fest locations.
With free entrance, FIFA expects millions of fans will head to the sites during the tournament.

“The FIFA Fan Fest was an important part of the success of the 2006 FIFA World Cup and we believe that the 2010 FIFA Fan Fests, both in South Africa and in the other seven international venues, will bring an unprecedented experience to millions of football fans in South Africa and around the world,” said FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

“The first international FIFA Fan Fest is another milestone in bringing the excitement of the FIFA World Cup to an even greater audience.”

Fan Fests will include live broadcasts of all 64 matches at the World Cup on giant screens at secure venues with merchandise and food and beverage outlets.

First launched by FIFA at Germany 2006, more than 18 million fans attended the 12 official sites through the four-week competition.

In South Africa, each of the host cities will partner with FIFA and the local organizing committee to stage the Fan Fests while FIFA will take control of the international sites.

The Fan Fests in South Africa have the support of one of FIFA’s major partners, Coca-Cola, as well as local companies MTN, Neo Africa and official broadcaster SABC. The international sites are sponsored by Coca-Cola, along with Emirates, Hyundai/Kia, Sony and the local media rights licensee.

Record crowds for 2010 qualification
FIFA reports record crowds for the qualification phase of the 2010 World Cup, which came to an end last week after more than two years of matches.

FIFA said 200 teams were involved in 853 games, with 2,344 goals scored to determine which 31 nations would line up with host South Africa for the finals tournament.

“There was an encouraging growth in attendance figures,” FIFA said in a statement. “Some 20 million fans – an average of almost 23,000 per match – flocked to the stadiums, creating a new attendance record in the history of the FIFA World Cup preliminary competition.”

“However, there was a downward trend in the number of goals scored, with the total of 2,344 – or 2.75 per match – representing the lowest average since the preliminary competition for the finals in Italy in 1990.”

The qualification phase began with a match in front of 60 people in Samoa on the Pacific Islands in August two years ago and wrapped early on Thursday morning (CET) in Montevideo last week, with Uruguay the last team to secure a berth at the 2010 tournament.

South Africa to roll out World Cup Courts
South Africa is planning to create special courts to deal with crime during next year’s World Cup.

The new courts aim to speed up the judicial process, especially for cases involving foreigners. The government hopes the new measures will help reduce crime during the event and ease the security concerns of fans visiting one of the world's most violent countries.

An average of 50 people are killed every day in South Africa, while 250,000 homes are burgled every year. The government is concerned the expected 450,000 visitors for the World Cup will fuel crime.

“The experience from previous host countries has shown that the influx of foreign nationals in World Cups also potentially increases criminal activities,” South Africa’s justice ministry said.
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“Therefore, special measures do need to be put in place in order to process any criminal matters that may arise from big events such as the FIFA World Cup.”

Any foreigners who are either victims or perpetrators of crimes will have their cases dealt with as a matter of priority at the special courts.

“There is not going to be any leniency,” news agency AFP quotes justice department spokesman Tlali Tlali as saying. “We're going to deal with all cases that have to do with the tournament.”

The 54 courts will cost about $135,000 to operate in all nine host cities, 15 hours a day from May 28 to July 25.

Bidding for Beach Soccer World Cup
FIFA said the initial list of bidding associations for the 2011 and 2013 Beach Soccer World Cups is a record high. Thirteen nations submitted bids to FIFA by the Sept. 1 deadline expressing interest in hosting one or both competitions, world football's governing body announced Monday.

The bidding nations are: Argentina, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Italy, Netherlands, Oman, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland and Tahiti.

“We are delighted with the interest that beach soccer has raised in our national associations and it reinforces the level of our involvement with this mode of football,” FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke said.

“We believe in the permanent success and growth of beach soccer.”

The next step in the process will come on Jan. 15, when member associations will submit the signed hosting agreements together with the relevant information on event experience and country infrastructure. The final decision will be made by the FIFA Executive Committee in March 2010.

Brazil claim beach title
Brazil were crowned 2009 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup champions when they defeated Switzerland 10-5 on Jumeirah Beach in Dubai at the weekend. It was the fourth consecutive title for Brazil. For the second time in a row, Portugal finished third in the tournament, overcoming Uruguay 14-7 in the match for third place.

Written by Anthony Stavrinos
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