World Cup 2010

The official mascot for the FIFA World Cup is Zakumi (born 16 June 1994 (1994-06-16) (age 16)), an anthropomorphised leopard with green hair, presented on 22 September 2008. His name comes from “ZA” (the international abbreviation for South Africa) and the term kumi, which means “ten” in various African languages. The mascot’s colours reflect those of the host nation’s playing strip – yellow and green.

Zakumi’s birthdate coincides with a day known and celebrated as Youth Day in South Africa and their second group match. The first non-racial nationwide elections in South Africa were in 1994. Zakumi will turn 16 in 2010. Andries Odendaal, from Cape Town, created the original character design.

Zakumi’s official motto is: “Zakumi’s game is Fair Play.” The motto was seen in the digital advertisement boards during the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, and it will also appear at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The match ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup will be named the Jabulani, made by Adidas, which means “bringing joy to everyone” in isiZulu. The number eleven plays a prominent role in the new technologically advanced ball: it is the eleventh World Cup match ball made by the German sports equipment maker; it features eleven colours, one for each player on the pitch; and there are eleven official languages in South Africa. The event will also start on the eleventh day of June and end on the eleventh day of July.
A special match ball with gold panels will be used at the final held in Johannesburg. The ball will be called the “Jo’bulani”, playing off Johannesburg’s nickname of “The Golden City”.

The ball was also used as the match ball of the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, and a special version of the ball, the Jabulani Angola, was the match ball of the 2010 African Cup of Nations. This ball is also used in the 2010 Clausura Tournament of Argentina as well as the 2010 MLS season in the USA in the league’s colours of blue and green.

Five new stadiums have been built for the World Cup tournament, and five of the existing venues are to be upgraded. Construction costs are expected to be R8.4bn.

In addition to the stadiums being built and upgraded, South Africa is also planning to improve its current public transport infrastructure within the various cities, with projects such as the Gautrain and the new Bus Rapid Transit system (BRT) titled Rea Vaya. Danny Jordaan, the president of the 2010 World Cup organising committee, has said that he expects all stadiums for the tournament to be completed by October 2009.

The country is also going to implement special measures to ensure the safety and security of local and international tourists attending the matches in accordance with standard FIFA requirements, including a temporary restriction of flight operation in the airspace surrounding the stadiums.

The readiness of this African nation to host one of the biggest events in a sports that is worshiped by millions has received positive response from FIFA. FIFA has rated the readiness of South Africa at eight on a scale of 10 with the hope that they would be completely ready before the matches actually start.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th FIFA World Cup, the premier international football tournament. It is scheduled to take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the culmination of a qualification process that began in August 2007 and involved 204 of the 208 FIFA national teams. As such, it matches the 2008 Summer Olympics as the sports event with the most competing nations.

This will be the first time that the tournament has been hosted by an African nation, after South Africa beat Morocco and Egypt in an all-African bidding process. This decision left the Oceania Football Confederation as the only confederation yet to host the FIFA World Cup. Italy are the defending champions. The draw for the finals took place on 4 December 2009 in Cape Town.