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Aussie Media Focus On 2010 World Cup


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I've read on a newspaper that the south african comittee, to assure the right to host the competition, has promised to provide all the stadium with syntethic fields

OMG!!! :blink: Do u think the good national teams will play in such sh't of pitch? :huh: Syntethic fields don't work well with the ball and the players don't play well in them...

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I wonder why Australians always pop up and want to take things from other countries. Remember they wanted to take the Olympics from Athens too?

It's a ussual story. When Ukraine had the revolution a couple of months before the Eurovision, Greek media said that they would give us to organize the contest because we were more prepared because of the Olympics.

It's a media created story just to consume.

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German federation pledges world cup support

Berlin - President of the German Football Federation, Theo Zwanziger, has offered his full support to hosts South Africa ahead of the 2010

World Cup.

Security fears in South Africa have led to speculation that the tournament could be switched to Australia but Zwanziger says that would be a fiasco.

Germany held a highly successful tournament from June to July and the chief said he would be more than willing to pass on helpful information.

"This World Cup has to be in South Africa. Anything else would be a fiasco for Africa and a real setback for Fifa," Zwanziger said in an interview with the Westfalische Rundschau

"You can not deny the Africans the joy of this tournament. The German Football Federation wants an African World Cup with the fascination similar to that in Germany and will help in any way it can."

Germany controversially edged South Africa for the right to host the 2006 World Cup, winning by a single vote. - Sapa-AFP

Quickwire

Published on the Web by IOL on 2006-09-05 17:41:10

© Independent Online 2005. All rights reserved. IOL publishes this article in good faith but is not liable for any loss or damage caused by reliance on the information it contains.

Russia to invest billions

By Peter Fabricius

Visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Thabo Mbeki have announced plans for billions of dollars of Russian investment in South Africa and a joint venture to blast SA micro-satellites into space on Russian rockets.

They were speaking on Tuesday after meeting in Cape Town during Putin's State visit to SA, the first ever by a Russian President to the country or to sub-Saharan Africa.

On Wednesday the two leaders will participate in a meeting of top business leaders from both countries to discuss further business deals.

The two governments signed four co-operation agreements on Tuesday - one on friendship and partnership that sets the framework for co-operation in most areas; one on co-operation in space; one on co-operation in health and medicine and one on protecting intellectual property rights in defence industry co-operation.

At a joint press conference at Tuynhuys in Cape Town, Mbeki thanked Putin for Russia's strong support for the SA liberation struggle during the Soviet era.

The brisk and businesslike Putin, a no-nonsense former KGB officer, briefly acknowledged these thanks but quickly added that he was not visiting the country for "sentimental reminiscences, but to do business".

He then announced that Russia would be using some of its $280-billion reserves to invest in SA. The main one would be an investment of $1-billion by a Russian corporation in manganese production.

The others were deals on Russian investment in power-generation capacity, in building an aluminium smelter plant, in supplying Russian nuclear fuel to the Koeberg nuclear plant up to 2010, in supplying Russian gas to SA, in developing defence industries and in exploring outer space together.

Mbeki explained that the plans were to blast SA micro-satellites into space on Russian rockets in December.

Mbeki also announced that Russia had promised help and advice on how to take up the big challenge of serving as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for two years from January next year.

In this position, SA would have to prepare detailed positions on international conflicts and was grateful it could draw on Russia's experience as a permanent member of the Security Council.

Mbeki did not say, though, if Putin had offered Russia's support for SA's bid for its own permanent seat on the council, if plans to expand it are implemented.

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad had said before that Russia was in no hurry to expand the Security Council, but that SA hoped to persuade Putin otherwise.

Putin also had talks with National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and chairperson of the National Council of Provinces Mninwe Johannes Mahlangu. But he did not address Parliament itself, as a leader of his stature was expected to do.

SA officials said before Putin's arrival that SA had tried to persuade Putin to address Parliament, but that he had declined.

However, Mbeki gave a different explanation during Tuesday's Press conference, saying that Putin had wanted to address Parliament but that time had been too short.

After participating in the business roundtable on Wednesday, Putin is to visit Robben Island and the Cape Point nature reserve before visiting Morocco and then returning home.

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As I've said before, I'm sure the tournament will go ahead on time in South Africa. It really would be disasterous for RSA and for Blatter and FIFA, to move it. That said, how the tournament is conducted and how well it is pulled off is going to have a big effect on South Africa's future ambitions for the Olympics et al. It better start pulling its socks up.

And BTW pyrros, Sydney never put itself forward as an alternative host to Athens _ the NSW Government ruled out any repeat hosting very early on. It was Seoul and Los Angeles that were the standby hosts.

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As I've said before, I'm sure the tournament will go ahead on time in South Africa. It really would be disasterous for RSA and for Blatter and FIFA, to move it. That said, how the tournament is conducted and how well it is pulled off is going to have a big effect on South Africa's future ambitions for the Olympics et al. It better start pulling its socks up.

Absolutely right. A good World Cup build-up and tournament increases confidence for a possible future Olympic Games. But, the longer the difficulties go on, the more remote the Olympic chances become.

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I wonder why Australians always pop up and want to take things from other countries. Remember they wanted to take the Olympics from Athens too?

It's a ussual story. When Ukraine had the revolution a couple of months before the Eurovision, Greek media said that they would give us to organize the contest because we were more prepared because of the Olympics.

It's a media created story just to consume.

Actually SOCOG flatly rejected Sydney (or Australia) stepping on for Athens. Unofficially (but very much confirmed by multiple sources) Seoul was the stand in.

The Aussie media - in the comedown of a brilliant games - got a bit excited - but there was never a push for us to steal 2004. In fact Samaranch was annoyed that the AOC so outrightly refused to play back up.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Blatter seems to be backing the South Africans, but he's concerned.

Blatter to fire up SA World Cup

I really don't understand the calmness shown by the South African organisers. I mean, the construction delays were already a serious issue two months ago, at the end of the World Cup in Germany. During those two months, the organisers had every chance to draw their consequences from those discussions and fire up the construction works -- but obviously they haven't. How many admonitions do they still want to hear? I guess that they shouldn't play that game for too long -- the situation is already very serious when the FIFA president expresses his criticism that publicly and even wants to talk with the South African president.

And by the way: Why the hell does Blatter advise the South Africans not to consult foreign experts? Everything which helps to speed up the working pace should be approved by Blatter -- and I guess that if South Africa hadn't those experts, the situation would become uncontrollable very quickly. Maybe, in 2010, it will turn out that the experts were the only reason why the World Cup could stay in South Africa.

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In terms of stadia:

1. Ellis Park should be complete by the start of 2009 as it already exists

2. Loftus is hoping to be the first stadium to be ready including a new roof on the east end, could be complete by as early as January 2008

3. The Cape Town and Durban stadia will not be used in the Confed Cup and realistically will be complete December 2008, June/ September 2009 seems more likely though

4. The PE stadium will be used in the Confed Cup and construction will start in December 2006. Should be complete by December 2008

5. Free State stadium exists and will receive minor upgrades. Final preparations will only begin much closer to 2010 to ensure the stadiums upgrades are "fresh".

6. The Rustenburg stadium used for the RSA NZ tri nations clash will increase its capacity for 2010, only minor works required, this stadium also hosted manchester united in june/july.

7. The centrepiece of 2010, Soccer city will need massive works even though it already seats 70,000 the stadium is a huge mess, capacity will be increase to 104,000 all inclusive, and the design can be seen on previous pages of this thread. It will be used in the Confed Cup in June 2009 and should be complete by that date.

8.A new stadium will be constructed in Nelspruit. Completion date anywhere from June 2008 to December 2009.

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Well, Germany has ruled itself out as back-up host:

NUREMBERG, Germany, Sept 19, 2006 (AFP) - World Cup 2006 organising committee president Franz Beckenbauer said Tuesday organisers of the next tournament in South Africa in 2010 are facing serious problems.

``The organisation for the World Cup in South Africa is beset by big problems,'' Beckenbauer said here.

``But these are not South African problems, these are African problems. People are working against rather than with each other.''

The Kaiser, who won the World Cup as both a player and a coach, ruled out the possibility of Germany taking over the organisation of the 2010 tournament, though, if the mounting problems proved too much for South Africa.

``There are emergency solutions, but Germany is not one of them, there are enough other solutions,'' added the 61-year-old.

Beckenbauer, who will contest a seat on FIFA's executive committee next year, also revealed he was so sick of football after the World Cup finished on July 9 - he got married during it - that he took a two month break.

Last week he watched his first match since the final of the global showcase when he attended the Hamburg-Arsenal Champions League tie.

But on Saturday he will be back in his usual seat in the stands of the Allianz-Arena, the home of Bayern Munich where he is honourary president, for the first time this season for their league clash with Alemannia Aachen.

AFP

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of course they rule themselves out. i stand by my statement that if in june 2009 FIFA decide RSA cant do it, then germany would be most prepared and the best decision. for germany to openly declare themselves as backup hosts this early on would be suicide...how?

germans are busy designing and planning the new stadiums in RSA for 2010. why would germany want to lose out on contracts that their german architects really want.? considering these contracts were signed so that germany would vote for south africa in the 2010 decision...votes do cost money. in the same way france supported morrocco for 2010, french companies/architects are designing or "building" the "new" "stadia" in morrocco, note the inverted commas.

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London/UK buys Cape Town, in the form of South Africa's most valuable land asset

Cape Town landmark sold to UK consortium

By Melanie Gosling

A consortium led by the UK company London & Regional Properties has won the bid to buy the V&A Waterfront for over R7-billion +/- $ 1 billion, according to sources close to the bidding process.

This was "the highest bid by far", sources said.

Transnet, which is selling the Waterfront and other "non-core assets" to raise cash for its R64-billion investment programme, has made no secret that it would sell to the highest bidder.

When Transnet Group chief executive Maria Ramos announced in May that Transnet was to sell the Waterfront, she declined to put a value on the property, but added: "All I can say is we're looking for maximum value."

Bids were scored on a point system where the highest bidder got 85 points, and every other bid lost one point for every R25-million below that.

Another 10 points were allocated for black economic empowerment credentials and five points for retaining the 750 full-time staff.

Only 55 percent of the Waterfront's development rights have been exploited.

Transnet has a 26 percent interest in the Waterfront and its three pension funds share the balance.

Independent auditors were appointed by Transnet to oversee the bid process and the bid selection committee was made up of shareholder representatives only. The opening of the bid documents was videotaped and independent legal advisors will monitor the transaction process.

London & Regional Properties, which heads the consortium that will buy the Waterfront, is one of the UK's largest private property companies with a portfolio in excess of £3.5-billion, according to its website.

The company, which has its headquarters in London, is rated as one of the UK's most successful young property companies. It owns landmarks like the Hilton in London and hotels and other property in Scandinavia, the Baltic regions and in Russia.

London & Regional is owned by two brothers, Richard and Ian Livingstone. Richard is a chartered surveyor and Ian a former optometrist.

In an article in The Times, Jenny Davey describes the Livingstone brothers as "two of the most discreet businessmen in a famously indiscreet sector".

Davey wrote that although the Livingstone brothers, both in their early forties, each has a personal fortune of more than £250-million, and their company has a property portfolio of several billion pounds, few people outside the commercial property world had heard of them until they bid for one of the big supermarkets in the UK.

"They may own such landmarks such as the London Hilton on Park Lane and the Empire cinema on Leicester Square, but there are no flashy displays of wealth - no yachts at Mipim, the property market's annual champagne-swigging jamboree in Cannes, no Ferraris and no palatial mansions. Even though Ian Livingstone is married to a journalist, the brothers don't give interviews and refuse to have their photographs taken," Davey wrote.

She said the Livingstones borrow heavily from the major banks to fund acquisitions, "but in contrast to many other debt-backed private players, they have a huge cash pile available to fund deals, which enables them to take greater risks".

Transnet's sale of the Waterfront is part of its plan to get rid of "non-core assets" and become focused on what it says is its core business: port and rail infrastructure for the freight industry and pipeline infrastructure.

Bulelani Ngcuka, chairman of V&A Waterfront Holdings, has described the Waterfront as a "world class, mixed use property development and a top tourist destination".

One of the most successful developments in Cape Town, the Waterfront is visited by 22-million people a year.

only 55% of the development rights have been exploited, and 22 million visitors a year...new 2010 stadium for cape town....within walking distance of the waterfront....mmm....

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According to the German newspaper "Süddeutsche Zeitung", FIFA is in talks with the vice chairman of the Organising Comittee for the 2006 World Cup, Horst R. Schmidt, to send him to South Africa for helping the organisers of the 2010 World Cup.

German official to help organise World Cup in SA - report

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  • 2 months later...

Okay, I gotta admit this is over the top, and not winning Australia any favours if it hopes to get FIFA behind its own future hosting hopes.

SYDNEY, Nov 22 AAP - NSW is willing to help host the next soccer World Cup if South Africa fails to meet its commitment, Premier Morris Iemma says.

Speculation is mounting about South Africa's ability to host the 2010 World Cup after officials today failed to show up at a media conference to discuss how the preparations were going.

Mr Iemma, a self-confessed soccer fanatic, said he was ``salivating at the prospect'' of NSW acting as emergency host to one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

He said NSW still had plenty of people with experience in running major events such as the Olympics, who could help organise the World Cup here if necessary.

``We stand ready to step in if South Africa is unable to host the 2010 World Cup and the Football Federation of Australia puts a bid (in) to act as an emergency host,'' Mr Iemma told reporters.

``We have the infrastructure and the skills in running major events to be able to host 2010.''

Mr Iemma said he had every confidence a team to run the World Cup could be pulled together with the backing of the federal government and other states.

AAP

And another thing, is he just talking about NSW hosting? That wouldn't even go down well in the rest of Australia, much less the rest of the world and FIFA (not to mention that I doubt NSW could do it on its own anyway).

Stupid, stupid politicians ..........

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read that a few days ago and laughed...why not just let cape town host the world cup? how many stadia does NSW have? haha

It's just some stupid electioneering. Iemma is on the nose at the moment, engulfed in numerous scandals, and facing an election in March. So in tried and true Aussie fashion, he plays the sports card to try and dredge up a few votes _ not that there's many votes in soccer down here when the southern summer holiday season and an Ashes Cricket Series is about to start.

You read it a few days ago ....? He only said it yesterday afternoon!

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