753 replies to this topic

[Rafa]

the designs are complete..lol..they were actually awarded the contracts a while ago...cape towns design is out on friday durban has started demolition of the old stadium..cape town and durban will officially start construction in january 2007.

the durban design has been out for a month already..this article is just a nice way of showing how german support for the 2010 bid has resulted in "contracts" amongst other things

manchester united tomorrow night in cape town wipppeeee

[nykfan845]

Three stadia!!!

Uh-oh, another nail biter . . .

[micheal_warren]

cube, on Jul 8 2006, 10:37 AM, said:

omg - really boring imo
the thing about the SK/Japan logo is
that this is now the official WC LOGO
like the olympic rings for the IOC

i agree i think it is really boring as well, not original at all

[Sir Rols]

Hmmm. Seems the Capetown Stadium isn't as smooth a project as thought:

Quote

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, July 20 AP - Cape Town authorities reluctantly agreed on Thursday to the construction of a downtown stadium for the 2010 World Cup.
Mayor Helen Zille said construction of the 68,000-seat stadium would begin in January only if the national government guaranteed to pay a majority of the cost - estimated at more than $US420 million ($A560.41 million).
``We can not end up with a situation like in Montreal when the grandchildren of the people who made the decisions for the 1976 Olympics are still paying the bill,'' Zille said.
Cape Town can only afford to pay $US56 million ($A74.72 million) toward the cost because of problems like the chronic lack of housing and services, Zille added.
Authorities hope the World Cup will contribute billions of rands into the South African economy and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in a country still trying to overcome the legacy of apartheid.
President Thabo Mbeki has repeatedly said that the first World Cup in Africa will be a symbol of the continent's renaissance.
The government has earmarked about $US823 million ($A1.1 billion) for building and renovating 10 stadiums, and a further $US1.4 billion ($A1.87 billion) on upgrades to airports, roads and railway lines.
However, there has already been speculation that the tournament may be moved given that construction work has barely started and that South Africa's transport system may not be able to cope with the influx of visitors.
The government and FIFA have dismissed the rumors as baseless and organising chief Danny Jordaan insists everything is on schedule.
Zille was more wary.
``The killer constraints are time and money,'' she said.
``We have to start turning sods in January otherwise we can't meet the time limit.''
She said Cape Town - dubbed the Mother City and regarded as the jewel in South Africa's crown - would bid to host the opening match and a semifinal to justify the cost and capitalize on its stunning scenery.
Cape Town initially planned to host first-round and second-round matches at its Newlands rugby stadium, leaving Johannesburg to host the opening and final matches.
Durban, the capital Pretoria, the northern town of Polokwane, the northeastern city of Nelspruit near Kruger National Park, the southern port city of Port Elizabeth, and the central town of Bloemfontein are the other venues.
However, the government earlier this year announced plans for a new stadium in Cape Town suitable for a semi-final after pressure from FIFA and its sponsors anxious to benefit from the magnificent backdrop of Table Mountain and the surrounding ocean.
It said the site would be on Greenpoint common, close to the city center and harbor.
When Zille was elected mayor in March, she ordered an investigation, saying that the stadium was unnecessary, would overwhelm local infrastructure and provoke a financial crisis.
Zille is from the opposition Democratic Alliance and all the plans were approved by the ruling African National Congress.
The results of the investigation, presented Thursday at a press conference, found that the Greenpoint site was the most feasible option.
Zille said authorities would have preferred to build the stadium in a rundown part of the city center near the main railway station, but that there wasn't enough time for negotiations on that site.
She said that the Newlands rugby stadium, which would have been refurbished to seat 55,000 fans, was by far the cheapest option, even though FIFA said it was to small and too close to residential areas.
Zille said that, Greenpoint wasn't funded, the city would revert to its plan to use Newlands.
A detailed site analysis said there should be ``very high caution'' about both the cost and the risk involved.
Mike Marsden, who headed the investigation, said there was a clear danger of the stadium becoming a costly white elephant after the tournament because it was unlikely to attract capacity crowds.
``The worst possible scenario is if we commence Greenpoint and only finish it in 2011,'' he said.
``That was not a joke. That was the nightmare. We cannot end up with this scenario.''
AP

[Rafa]

many great cities have issues with stadia..even new york and cape town
this story has been all over the news...because the proposed initial cost was R1.2 bn...and now its R4.3bn!!

[Sir Rols]

Mo Rush, on Jul 21 2006, 09:43 AM, said:

many great cities have issues with stadia..even new york and cape town
this story has been all over the news...because the proposed initial cost was R1.2 bn...and now its R4.3bn!!

Welcome to the world of being "host apparent" Mo _ for the next five years you can expect carping about every slight perceived mishap possible.

[Rafa]

CAPE TOWN 2010 STADIUM LOCATION FINALIZED

[Sir Rols]

If you want international event hosting expertise, who ya gonna call?

Quote

MUNICH, AAP - A little-known Tasmanian has emerged as the most powerful Australian in world football as the build up to South Africa's World Cup finals in 2010 begins.
Michael Palmer, 43, has been headhunted by the game's global governing body, FIFA, to head its 2010 World Cup effort from it's office in the host nation in Johannesburg.
FIFA appointed him to the high-calibre role last July but he'd kept a low profile until fronting the media during Germany's World Cup to reject a South African report published in an Afrikaans paper.
The Sunday paper reported South Africa's chances of hosting the World Cup had been getting slimmer by the day and there were ``whispers in the corridors of soccer power'' that the event could be moved to Australia.
``When you think about that logically, it's bizarre. To me, someone's thrown a dart at the map of the world, they've missed and it's landed on Australia because it's bottom right hand,'' Palmer told AAP.
``If it's ever going to be moved, for whatever reason, you would move it to a place that could handle it on the spur of the moment.''
He says two world cup football tournaments had previously been relocated - the 1986 men's World Cup that was moved from Colombia to Mexico due to political instability, while the 2003 women's World Cup had been moved from China to the USA due to SARS fears.
Palmer says the 2010 World Cup will definitely be in South Africa because it has the capacity to deliver it with success and also, FIFA have invested heavily in a social and political legacy sense and wants to develop football in Africa and help Africa though football.
He says FIFA hosted almost 100 people from South Africa in Germany. That included 46 people from the cities, stadiums and local government, another 20 from the nation's Treasury, the Development Bank of South Africa and government senior ministers, while South Africa's LOC Board also attended as observers.
``South Africans are more excited about their World Cup four years away than the Germans have been are about their World Cup,'' Palmer says.
``South Africans are just dancing in the streets every day. One of the jobs I think we have to do in South Africa, quite seriously, is just calm everybody down for a couple of years. We need to focus on the job at hand, we need to get everything prepared and then let the excitement flow again.''
Hobart born and bred Palmer is part of the success story of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, which launched international careers for many of the administrators who, in the words of former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch, delivered the ``best Games ever''.
Palmer's 18-year career has experienced a whirlwind of success over the last seven years.
He's made the transition from running training and practice venues for baseball, softball and athletics before the Sydney Olympics, to taking charge of the MCG football venue for the Games.
After that he was put in charge of venues at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, then he hit world football's 'big time'.
``While I was still in Manchester, I got a call offering me a job as head of venue management on the (UEFA) Champions League,'' Palmer told AAP.
``I'd been fortunate that I'd signed the deal for Manchester before I'd finished in Sydney and I'd signed the deal for the Champions League before I'd finished in Manchester.''
For three years Palmer became an enforcer for UEFA (Europe's football confederation) on its incredibly successful Champions League tournament, conceived by two Germans and their Lucerne-based company Team Marketing.
His role saw him diplomatically laying down the law to international club heavyweights including Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Arsenal, Liverpool, Juventus and AC Milan.
``I mean, there's a huge manual and they have to do exactly as they're told because they get paid so much money,'' he explains.
``We've had a few running battles with Real Madrid and Manchester United and Barcelona, but it's been fun.
``You know something funny. It really, really helped being Australian. And the reason is because everyone else working on it was from one European country or another and the thing that really helped me was being seen to be truly neutral.''
And while Palmer acknowledges he's usually greeted with an instant smile when he announces he's Australian, he's got an even better trick up his sleeve.
``I'll tell you what's even better than saying you're from Australia, saying that you're from Tasmania. A lot of people don't even think it exists, they think it's like Transylvania,'' he says.
``In terms of working on the Champions League or the World Cup or something like that, Hobart's as far from the San Siro in Milan as you could possibly get - in every sense, not just physically but in a mental sense too - and so it's a bit surreal.
``One of the things I always do is make sure, when I'm at a sporting event or whatever, that I walk on the pitch or the athletics track on the day of the event. And I always think this is just amazing, even now.''
But Palmer stresses his move into football had been deliberate and he'd been a fanatic of the sport ``ever since I was a little fella'' and he'd tried unsuccessfully in the past to snare a football job in Australia.
``If you're from, not so much the outside, but if you're just not involved - I was never really involved at a club, never played - it's basically impossible,'' Palmer says.
``So maybe one day I'll get a job in Australian football by going all the way around the globe and ending up back there. But that's down the track, I've already got a job for now.''
And while there's plenty going on in South Africa over the next four years to keep him occupied, perhaps a football job back home could mean running an Australian World Cup.
``I'd personally be very excited, I think it would be wonderful and I hope that a World Cup ends up in Australia during the time that I'm still able to work on it,'' Palmer says.
``What the chances are, it's difficult to say. FIFA's strategy about how it approves World Cup host cities might take a change in the coming years. They're sort of on a semi-rotational system now, which has allowed it to go to Africa.''
But he says it's hard to gauge what impact Australia's move into the Asian Football Confederation from Oceania, would have on Australia's chances given that Asia hosted the tournament in 2002 in Japan and Korea.
Palmer was amused by reported demands by Victorian Premier Steve Bracks that his state would only back a World Cup bid if Melbourne got to host the final.
``I think if anyone's got ahead of themselves, that's the classic,'' he says, adding that Prime Minister John Howard's support for a bid is important.
``I think, really, unified support from the top level is critical. If FIFA don't think the government's 100 per cent behind it, right behind it from the beginning, then it's not going to happen.
``Mbeki and (Nelson) Mandela and those guys are completely behind the South African bid and that's one of the reasons it's happening, because they say they're going to deliver it and will.''
AAP

[Rafa]

when u want an event organized u refer to ur sydney 2000 olympic games manual.

roltel did u not know palmer was heading some of the preparations from the joburg HQ? i think once the new FIFA HQ is completed everyone will move to those offices.

[Sir Rols]

Mo Rush, on Jul 27 2006, 09:54 AM, said:

when u want an event organized u refer to ur sydney 2000 olympic games manual.

roltel did u not know palmer was heading some of the preparations from the joburg HQ? i think once the new FIFA HQ is completed everyone will move to those offices.

I know he's beeen there for a while _ he was commenting on all those rumours a few weeks back about Australia being considered as a 2010 back-up. But this was the first feature I could find on him himself.