FIFA praises South Africa World Cup
Football’s governing body has praised South Africa for its effort in hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup, with secretary general Jerome Valcke insisting that this summer’s tournament will be the standard-bearer for all others which be judged against.
After the final meeting of the tournament’s organising committee — around two months after the final which saw Spain become world champions for the first time after beating Holland 1-0 after extra-time — Valcke took the time to hail the success of the competition.
He said that: “Hosting the event in South Africa proved to be a huge success. I think that we can say that South Africa brought a new benchmark in terms of the World Cup. That's what we will have to achieve with 2014 and the World Cup in Brazil.”
Valcke added that there were no significant problems encountered during the tournament, despite initial fears that the country’s reputation of violent crime would prove to be a factor.
'No crisis'
He said that: "During the 31 days [of the World Cup] there was not a single day when we had a big problem, where we had a crisis. For FIFA it was a unique experience and we will use this experience for 2014 and all the World Cups we have in the future."
The competition’s head of organisation Danny Jordaan said the fact that South Africa was able to show the world that it was not an unsafe country was the biggest success factor.
He said that: "At the end I think the police walked away with great credit for the efficient and safe environment that they created. The police took off this monkey that we had on our back about this country is not safe."
The final figures of the revenue earned by the organizing committee — which will be put towards development of the sport in the country — will be revealed in November by FIFA chief Sepp Blatter and South Africa president Jacob Zuma.
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