By Stuart Alderson-Smith
Just as the South African organisers of the 2010 FIFA World Cup did in 2006, by attending the
previous World Cup in Germany, so too are the organisers of the 2014 FIFA World
Cup - Brazil.
A recent article on BuaNews,
a South African Government news and information site, stated that a Brazilian
delegation is currently in South Africa to learn more about the processes and
preparations that go into staging one of the world's biggest sporting events.
Representing the
Brazilian delegation, Silvio Torres said they were confident that they would
organize and host a successful world cup after spending time in South Africa,
adding that they were very impressed with what they saw and learnt here.
"We are here to
learn how South Africa
is organising the world cup and with the LOC's progress in preparations for the
world cup, we will achieve our objectives of organising a world class
tournament," he said.
According to the
Local Organising Committee (LOC), the Brazilian delegation was pleased with the
country's legacy pillars of tourism, infrastructure, the rebuilding of South Africa's and Africa's
image, as well as job creation and stimulating growth in the small to medium
business sector.
On 7 March 2003, FIFA
announced that the tournament would be held in South America for the first time
since Argentina
hosted the 1978 FIFA World Cup, in line with its policy of rotating the right
to host the World Cup amongst different confederations.
This will be the
second time that Brazil
has hosted the competition, the first being the 1950 FIFA World Cup. Brazil will become the fifth country to have
hosted the FIFA World Cup twice, after Mexico,
Italy, France, and Germany.
It will be the first
World Cup to have been held in South America since the 1978 FIFA World Cup in
Argentina, and the first time consecutive World Cups have been staged in the
Southern Hemisphere. Brazil
also will become the first nation to break the well-established chain of
allowing a European nation to host the World Cup Finals every eight years.
The 12 Host Cities
for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil
are: Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, São Paulo.
Sources: