Blatter Reassures Public That South Africa Will Be Ready.

Tuesday, 27th April 2010 at 12:10pm

With less than 100 days until the 2010 Fifa World Cup kicks off in South Africa, Sepp Blatter, president of football's world governing body, has moved to quell concerns about the upcoming tournament, the first to be staged in Africa, saying there is "no doubt" that South Africa will be ready.

Concerns had been raised about the stadia which will host the matches, ticket sales, South Africa's readiness to accommodate a large volume of travelling supporters from all corners of the globe and the crime rate in the country, famous for being amongst the highest in the world.

It was feared that sales of tickets have been slow, but Fifa insist that of the 2.9 million available, some 2.2 million have been sold and that they expect the rest to be purchased by fans in the next 99 days.

South Africa proved that it could deal with the influx of large numbers of visitors in 1995 when it hosted the IRB Rugby World Cup, however, given the size of the football world cup, the number of visitors is likely to increase quite significantly.

wayne rooney

To ensure the country's infrastructure is up to scratch, the South African government is thought to have spent around 2.9 billion. Durban's new airport will open its gates on May 1, while major improvements to Cape Town, Johannesburg and Bloemfontein have been finished.

It is believed that South Africa is capable of accommodating around 450,000 foreign visitors, but given the impact of the recent global financial crisis, Fifa believe that the number of football fans travelling to the finals could be down on that figure.

Blatter delivered his speech after visiting the 10 grounds that will host the 64 finals matches. All 10 are complete and only two have yet to stage a game in preparation for the big kick off in June.

What is the biggest concern to many is the crime rate in South Africa, a country in which 50 people are murdered per day. To counter this, the government have brought in 41,000 extra police officers to ensure that no harm should come to people during the month-long football extravaganza.

The countdown is well and truly on.

Have Your Say About This Post