World Cup News
George Weah
Former World Footballer of the Year, George Weah, hopes that a successful hosting of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will lead to more international events being held on the African continent. South Africa has already hosted the Rugby and Cricket World Cups, to wide acclaim, but so far it has been the only African country that has been the venue for these major sporting events.
Weah, the former AC Milan and Liberia legend, hopes that if South Africa is a success in 2010, it will leave a lasting legacy that will give confidence to all African nations that they too can entertain the world by holding a global sporting event.
The FIFA World Cup is much larger than the rugby and cricket ewuivalents and will give South Africa an idea of what it would be like to host the Olympic Games. It’s widely rumoured that both Cape Town and Durban wish to bid for the rights to host the Games in 2020 and a well run and efficient World Cup would be a major kudos as they push to bring the Olympics to Africa for the very first time.
2018 announcement in 2010
FIFA has announced that the winners for the right to host the 2018 World Cup Finals will be announced in December 2010. The secretary general of FIFA, Jerome Valcke, also stated that football’s governing body were contemplating announcing the 2022 hosts too, to give the winning bid the most amount of time to prepare for the tournament.
South Africa was announced as the winner in May of 2004 which left the African nation almost 6 years to the day in order to be ready. With fears that certain aspects of the 2010 finals will not be completed until a month before the tournament is scheduled to begin, FIFA have decided to act to ensure any last minute problems can be avoided in future finals.
So far England and a combined bid from Holland and Belgium have submitted to FIFA their desire to host the World Cup, with possible bids coming from Australia, the USA, Russia and Spain. With 2010 heading to Africa and 2014 heading to Brazil it is likely that the finals will be held in Europe, but Australia will present a strong case for hosting the World Cup for the first time in Oceania with its track record for hosting major events with immense success.
Peru kicked out of qualifying
South American nation Peru has been suspended from playing international football due to a dispute between the Peruvian Football Association, the FPF, and the Peruvian government. The suspension takes immediate effect and includes qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
FIFA have long made clear that there should be no interference by a country’s government into the running of its football association and football’s governing body have threatened an even harsher sentence should the dispute not be solved. FIFA have given the two factions one month to resolve their differences or Peru may be kicked out of FIFA entirely.
The situation has risen as a result of the Peruvian Government’s refusal to acknowledge the position of Manuel Burga as FA President following the recent election. FIFA plan to discuss the issue at a committee hearing in December. Peru currently sit bottom of the South American qualifying region.
Latest FIFA Rankings
In the latest FIFA Rankings, Paraguay were the big climbers, moving up 5 places to take their position inside the top 20 on the back of their impressive qualifying campaign to date. The other big mover was England, whose resurgence under coach Fabio Capello has seen them climb four places to sit in the top 10. Spain still remains at the top following their Euro 2008 win and their flawless start to their World Cup campaign.
1. Spain 1657pts
2. Germany 1413pts
3. Italy 1356pts
4. Netherlands 1306pts
5. Brazil 1286pts
6. Argentina 1181pts
7. Croatia 1158pts
8. Russia 1079pts
9. Czech Republic 1062pts
10. =Portugal 1058pts
= England 1058pts
11. –
12. France 1035pts
13. Turkey 1032pts
14. Cameroon 1013pts
15. Israel 1004pts
16. Bulgaria 951pts
17. Paraguay 934pts
18. Greece 907pts
19. Romania 892pts
20. Ukraine 883pts