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FIFA World Cup 2010: South African World Cup organizer Jordaan elated with the success of the world cup

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FIFA World Cup 2010: South African World Cup organizer Jordaan elated with the success of the world cup

2010 World Cup organiser Danny Jordaan has every reason to smile after successfully organising the first ever football World cup in Africa. For Danny Jordaan, the tournament has opened new horizons for the South African nation, which has risen dramatically from depths of misery, sporting isolation via apartheid into becoming one of the best modern sporting venues in the world.

Jordaan who is the Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 World Cup organising committee, thinks that the rapid strides made by the country after the end of apartheid only two decades ago, is a testament to their resounding success and the great spirit of the African nation.

He added that staging the World cup augurs well for the country, which can now possibly work on an Olympic bid in the next two decades.

According to Jordaan, the revenues generated from ticket sales need to be diverted into youth development projects.

"Where we sit today, it's just incredible to think that after 16 years of work, we have only two matches left, we have delivered 62 matches and we are two matches to go to end an 80-year wait for Africa to host its first World Cup, and now this World Cup will be over by tomorrow, and then it's on to Brazil."

He added that only 20 years ago, the South African society was entrenched on a racial basis by law that black and white could never sit together in the stadiums.

Black and white could never go to the same school swim at the same beach, or sit in the same restaurant let alone play in the same football team.

However, those things were outlawed by law, for more than 300 years and within 20 years, the country has leapfrogged to become a highly progressive state that is set to be the next sporting hub in the region.  

Jordaan was impressed by the people in the country, who felt a sense of pride, they walked tall and they were very proud of what this country has achieved, and that was an incredible thing.

The remarkable thing for Jordaan was the unity displayed by his countrymen who took tremendous pride in paying host to tens and thousands of fans and players from 31 countries, encompassing all the continents in the world.

He thinks that the common man out on the street walks with their heads held high and they have brushed aside their inferiority complex due to the colour of their skin, which their masters believed made them in equal. For Jordaan, his nation has over come a huge psychological barrier by staging the event.

All in all, the month long tournament was filled with enthralling matches and a plethora of upsets that saw two former champions Italy and France, who ironically clashed in the final of the last world cup crash out in the opening round of the tournament.

Jordaan added that the event was a huge success financially, as revenue essentially came from the sale of tickets, which stands between 80-100 million U.S. dollars.

He hopes that the money earned through the tournament would be invested in development, on the lines of the success of the United States who hosted the 1994 World Cup.

After the tournament, the host nation set up a trust with academies and since then the team has made great progress at both men and women’s levels.

Ever since, the team has always been in the World Cup and their youth teams are doing very well, with the women team winning the most prestigious women tournament in Los Angeles in 1999.

"(We have achieved the) rebranding of the country. People look at South Africa with new eyes and new understanding and now embrace people of this country," Jordaan said.

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