South Africa Prepared to Host World Cup
March 18th, 2010- By Bryan Cross
The city of Capetown prepares for the biggest event in South Africa’s history, with the 2010 World Cup set to begin this summer.
Pieter Cronje, the spokesperson for the City of Capetown, says that the city is well versed on hosting a mega-event such as this, and looks forward the beginning of the tournament.
“The world was waiting for the match order of the 32 participating teams. This Fifa delivered through the Draw, but the world was also watching to see if Cape Town could stage a world-class event, and if we could pull off a successful Fifa Fan Fest. And Cape Town delivered,” Cronje remarked.
For the Final Draw, 120,000 people came to Adderley street where the new lighting display was turned on, as well as an additional 55,000 people came together for the FIFA Fan Fest.
Capetown has run a series of “test events,” which included a football and rugby event which hosted 40,000 fans.
“Since then [the Final Draw] the city has held two test events at the new stadium, a football match for 20 000 spectators and a rugby match for 40 000,” Cronje said.
“In keeping with World Cup practice, there were no ticket sales at the stadium and people used public transport and free shuttle buses to go to the stadium from the rail, taxi, bus and parking hub in the CBD. Both events were successful and also served to identify and fix smaller problems.”
The city erected a brand new 68,000 seat facility called Green Point stadium, that will be the main stadium for the event. The stadium is ready, and city focuses on completing the new intersections and road changes that will be done by May.
“We are keenly awaiting the buses for the shuttle service from the airport to the CBD, a circular service within the CBD, and the shuttle service to the stadium on match days. We are ready, but there is no room for complacency and there is much hard work ahead.”
The residents of South Africa are eager to put their city on display and showcase to the World that Capetown will stage one of the great events on the planet.
“Cape Town will show the world what it is capable of, I have no doubt about that,” remarked a local shop owner Daniel Green. “We will host this event better than it has ever been hosted before.”
Currently, Spain leads the way in the line of betting favorites on Online Sportsbooks to win the 2010 FIFA World Cup, with odds at 4/1. Brazil is a close second, boasting 5/1 odds.
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