SOUTH AFRICA - Sport

Football World Cup

Preparation

Five new stadiums were built for the tournament (three places for matches and two new golf training sites), and five of the existing venues were to be improved. Construction costs were expected to be 8.4 billion

Designation of the host country

After the failure of South Africa against Germany with a single voice in 2006 The FIFA decided to award the organization of the competition in a country on the African continent. After the removal of the Libya and Tunisia, the Executive Committee met on the 15^th of May 2004 in Zurich and chose South Africa by 14 votes against 10 votes and 0 votes for Morocco .Nelson Mandela, the former South African President and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1993, then declared that he felt "like a boy of fifteen." Mandela probably tipped the balance in favor of South Africa On the 7^th of July 2006, the logo of thefuture competition wa unveiled, representing a stylized player making a bicycle with a background representation the African continent.

During the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, the winner was Spain 1-0 against The Netherlands. It was the nineteenth edition of the World Cup, it was held from the 11^th of June to the 11^th of July 2010. There were 34 teams including France, which had gone on strike and did not want to play one of the matches.

This World Cup has seen many firsts , including the elimination of the Italian team (winner of the previous edition) and France, finalists of the previous edition, just after the first round of the 2010 World Cup. Moreover, South Africa became the first host of the world Cup to fail to qualify for the end of the group stage. It is also the first time a European country won outside its continent.

Theo & Oceane