2010 fast facts
Zakumi, the mascot for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. Photo: Khanyi Magubane MediaClubSouthAfrica.com South Africa's national football squad
The country's football team is known as Bafana Bafana - "the boys, the boys" in isiZulu - a name that comes from the fans' cry that went up during the squad's triumph at the 1996 African Cup of Nations, hosted in SA. Other than winning that tournament, Bafana Bafana have twice qualified - in 1998 and 2002 - for the Fifa World Cup since the end of South Africa's sporting isolation.
Why South Africa was awarded the 2010 World Cup
Fifa decided that the 2010 tournament would be hosted by an African country, with five countries - South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya - in the running. In 2004 the organisation's inspection committee announced that South Africa had the potential to organise an "excellent" World Cup - compared to Egypt and Morocco's potential to organise "very good" World Cups, Tunisia's potential to organise a "good" World Cup, and the probability that Libya would "face great difficulties in organising a World Cup to the standards required".
Economic benefits
It has been estimated that the 2010 World Cup will create some 129 000 jobs, contribute around R21-billion to the country's gross domestic product and another R7.2-billion in government taxes, with the 350 000 visitors spending a some R9.8-billion in the country.
Use of the Fifa logo
Only accredited Fifa partners and sponsors are allowed to use the 2010 Fifa World Cup logo in their publicity and advertising.
Tickets
Some 3-million tickets will be available for the 2010 World Cup's 64 matches. One third, or a million, will be allocated to South African football fans, another million to international visitors, and the third million to sponsors, teams and the "Fifa family". Tickets are likely to go on sale in 2008.
What is a vuvuzela?
Some would say it's South Africa's national musical instrument. It's a big plastic trumpet, brightly coloured, and is blown with gusto by all fans at every football match in the country. The sound it makes is something between the bellow of a constipated elephant and the buzzing of a giant swarm of baritone bees, but South Africans like it.
This information was originally published on MediaClub, a portal created by the International Marketing Council.
