On the Scene - Soccerex Diary: Day One

Jordaan envisages southern hemisphere Champions League

(WFI) World Cup organizing committee CEO, Danny Jordaan, spoke at great length and with characteristic eloquence about his hopes for domestic football in South Africa after next summer’s finals.

Better stadia and communications infrastructure meant more commercial possibilities, he said on Monday. The country would be able to keep its best players, instead of have them follow the lure of European football, which often means bench-warming for average clubs. This in turn diminishes the Bafana Bafana, which has slipped to 86th in the FIFA rankings.

But his most interesting hope transcended his country’s and continent’s borders. “We can have a south-south league, with Brazil and Argentina and some of the African countries,” said Jordaan. “We can create a new Champions League, in the south, because distances are shrinking and so new possibilities emerge.”

Quite what CONMEBOL – which in the Copa Libertadores possesses one of the most compelling club contests in world football – makes of this idea remains to be seen.

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South Africa as a whole is desperate to prove that it is fit and able to host the World Cup and its government has gone to great measures to ease the arrival of media and FIFA delegates. When WFI arrived in Johannesburg on Saturday, as FIFA accredited media it was able to take the FIFA delegate ‘fast lane’ at passport control.

This was fine, except there was no one there to check my passport at the other end. Spotting me waiting, a nervous supervisor berated a colleague for neglecting his post, while apologizing profusely.

It was all a little unnecessary as the airport was empty at the time and the benefits of the fast lane were negligible. But it demonstrated how desperate the country is to impress upon the world its bureaucratic competence.

Yet problems still remain. WFI learned how one delegate – not afforded the luxury of the FIFA fast lane – was kept waiting for over two hours in a dismal detention area on some Kafka-esque pretext over his passport. Only when his airline intervened was he cleared to pass through, while many others were left waiting by rude and officious border guards.

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Johannesburg’s deep-lying social problems were also brought into stark focus for delegates arriving to the conference on Friday, when someone was shot dead outside the convention center. No further details are known about the incident, but the victim is believed to be local and not visiting Soccerex.

A score of police cars was immediately on the scene, but it reinforced the city’s reputation as a crime den. Some delegates have hired security details to ward off such incidents as they seek reassurance about their safety. There are nevertheless complaints that such measures are overbearing with some delegates driven 50 metres from their hotel lobby, to the highly guarded convention centre next door.

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Sometimes it pays to take a hands-on approach to the business of lobbying to host the World Cup. Exhibitors were largely taken unaware by the arrival of FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Monday for a walkabout in the exhibition hall, with many still getting ready.

Not the Qatar 2022 bid team, who had been there bright and early. Their number included Sheikh Mohamed bin Hamad bin Khalifa, the youthful and charming chairman of the bid, who, far from hiding in the VIP lounges, takes a hands-on approach to management.

While other bid CEOs missed the opportunity to capitalise on Blatter’s presence – or simply aren’t at Soccerex at all - His Excellency was able to share several minutes of Blatter’s time, showing him the ins and outs of Qatar's bid. Such time – though brief – may prove crucial when voting for the World Cup host nation takes place in December 2010.

It may also have proved some small consolation to Sheikh Mohamed, who witnessed his beloved Arsenal fall 3-0 to Chelsea on Sunday.

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While Qatar has brought 34 delegates to Soccerex, England 2018’s number can be counted on one hand – although bid ambassadors, such as John Barnes, are present in separate capacities. Its stretched and ludicrously overworked media team are split between Johannesburg and Cape Town, where preparations are underway for Friday’s bidding expo.

One of its few delegates, bid board member Paul Elliott held a private meeting with the Nigerian FIFA Executive Committee member, Amos Adamu. Elliott said: “Mr Adamu was extremely gracious in giving us his time and I was delighted to be able meet him. Johannesburg and Cape Town provide us with a great opportunity to promote our message and I’m delighted we were able to do that today.”

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Where in the world is Indonesia’s World Cup bid team?

Since WFI was last able to make contact with its media representative 10 weeks ago, the lines have – literally – gone dead, with the Jakarta mobile number given for enquiries permanently switched off and emails unanswered.

In its preview of the World Cup bid race, Soccerex magazine asked bid leaders to write short previews outlining their case to host the finals. All responded, except Indonesia bid CEO, Nurdin Halid. Instead the magazine pulled extracts off its bid website, charitably correcting the somewhat eccentric use of English.

Will we see Halid, who faces a corruption probe in Indonesia, in Cape Town? A no-show by the Indonesians would confirm what everybody in world football suspects: that a withdrawal is imminent.

Written by James Corbett (james@worldfootballinsider.com)

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