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Go-ahead for rugby during World Cup

By Mazola Molefe | 5 days, 22 hours ago

The Springboks, South Africa’s national rugby team, has been given permission to play France in a Test match at home just one day after the start of this year’s FIFA World Cup.
FIFA forbids World Cup host countries to run major rival competitions at the same time as the soccer event, however, SARU president Oregan Hoskins got the go-ahead for the game from Danny Jordaan, chief executive at the World Cup organising committee.
The Test match will be staged at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on June 12, one day after the World Cup clash between France and Uruguay in the same city, at the Cape Town Stadium.
Discussions between SARU and the organising committee are still underway over the hosting of rugby’s Super 14 semi finals and finals.
Australia’s bid to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 has been facing opposition from rival codes, including the National Rugby League, over the interruption of their seasons.

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Swallows to surprise Chiefs with limited Polo edition….now, that’s a sight.

By Mazola Molefe | 6 days, 22 hours ago

Moroka Swallows will be wearing a limited edition Home Kit for the Soweto derby match between Moroka Swallows and Kaizer Chiefs at Ellis Park on Tuesday 2 February 2010 at 8pm.

The new dark maroon kit with flashes of orange features the Polo logo instead of the traditional Volkswagen logo. The use of the Polo logo coincides with the launch of the new Polo in South Africa on Wednesday 3 February 2010.

“We are excited to celebrate the launch of the New Polo with the special home kit. The New Polo is a fantastic car and I have every reason to believe that our team will put in an excellent performance tonight against Kaizer Chiefs. We have prepared well for the last six games of the season and we are confident that the Beautiful Birds will finish the season strongly”, said Moroka Swallows’ Brand Manager Siya Sangweni.

Volkswagen South Africa’s Sales and Marketing Director Mike Glendinning, said “We are happy that our team, Moroka Swallows, supports the launch of New Polo with their new jersey. This is the first time in South Africa that we get our soccer team behind the launch of a new car. Volkswagen South Africa produces the stylish New Polo and Swallows will be wearing a stylish playing shirt with the New Polo logo on it.”

This branding initiative has been done in Germany since 2007 when Bundesliga-Champion VfL Wolfsburg supported their sponsor, Volkswagen AG, when it launched new cars – Golf GTI, Tiguan, Polo and the introduction of the TSI Motor.

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English Premiership hits a spending slump

By Mazola Molefe | 1 week ago

English Premier League clubs have spent around £30 million in the January 2010 transfer window, which closed yesterday, the lowest since the system was introduced in 2003.

It was also a drop of more than 80 per cent on the previous year in the world’s richest soccer league.

Player transfer spending was £170 million in January 2009 and £150 million in January 2008, according to analysis by consultancy firm Deloitte.

“Premier League clubs’ record level of transfer spending in January 2009 was particularly fuelled by new owner-team manager combinations, with over fifty per cent of the spending by Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur,” said Dan Jones, a partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

“Managers, club owners and directors have become increasingly sceptical of the near-term impact a January acquisition can have,” Jones added.

“Therefore, it is unsurprising to see a lack of high value activity, with those clubs that are active preferring loan deals. The absence of new club owners and the tightening of club finances and credit availability have helped to accelerate that trend and dampen down the market.”

Club’s in Italy’s Serie A also spent around £30 million, but those from the French, German and Spanish leagues spent much less, Deloitte said.

Around 70 per cent of Premier League clubs’ player transactions (in and out) in January 2010 were loan arrangements.

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Fifa has reacted to “alarmist” English media

By Mazola Molefe | 1 week, 4 days ago

World football’s governing body has reacted angrily to “alarmist foreign reports” about South African crime in English and German media, adding tickets are selling successfully in the lead-up to the event.

FIFA said 1.2 million applications were received for tickets from 192 countries during the third phase of sales that ended last week, bringing applications to around two million for a total of three million seats.

FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke however condemned media reports reporting the host country’s high levels of crime, and accommodation and transport problems, which could dissuade fans from travelling to South Africa in June this year.

“It’s sad that every morning when you wake up people are saying you should not go to South Africa … it’s insane and it is completely wrong,” he said.

“Where can we organise the World Cup? On the moon? Where there is no-one?” he asked. “Don’t kill the World Cup before the World Cup has taken place.”

There are 50 murders a day in South Africa, more than in the United States which has six times the population.

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Two million tickets sold for World Cup

By Mazola Molefe | 1 week, 5 days ago

After three of five ticketing sales phases for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa, two-thirds of the available tickets have been sold.

The third ticketing sales phase, which will conclude with a random draw for oversubscribed matches on 1 February, saw a total of 1,206,865 applications received from 192 countries. Six matches are currently oversubscribed (in all categories), among them the semi-finals and the final. In total, 55 matches are oversubscribed in at least one category.

There was huge interest from South African residents, who accounted for 79% of the total applications received (958,381) in this phase. This represents an increase of 24.9% in applications from South African residents in the third sales phase when compared to the earlier ticketing stages.

Apart from the host country, the USA led the ticketing standings for the third phase with 50,217 applications, followed by the UK (41,529), Australia (15,523), Mexico (14,804), Germany (14,647) and Brazil (10,767). Increased interest was also noted in the neighbouring countries of South Africa – Botswana leading with 2,519 ticket applications, followed by Mozambique (1,795) and Namibia (1,191).

The next ticketing sales phase will start on 9 February 2010 and end on 7 April 2010. During these 58 days, more than 400,000 tickets will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis via www.fifa.com/2010 or in FNB branches (in South Africa only).

From 15 April 2010 onwards, ticketing centres will be open in each host city (with two in Johannesburg) where fans will be able to buy tickets over the counter and also collect their confirmed tickets.

To further enhance the service, ticketing call centres will be open during the fourth sales phase – both internationally and in the host country. The call centres will assist fans with enquiries and applications. The hotline number for international customers is 0041445832010, and for domestic customers 0831232010.

For residents of the host country, the allocation of category 4 tickets (the most affordable, for South African residents only – starting from USD 20/ZAR 140) will, as planned, increase significantly.  

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UEFA: More than half of clubs losing money

By Mazola Molefe | 1 week, 6 days ago

By: Matt Cutler
Half of Europe’s leading clubs are losing money and more than 20 per cent face huge deficits, UEFA’s general secretary Gianni Infantino said yesterday.

European football’s governing body will publish a report next month to reveal the scale of the problem before bringing in tougher regulations later this year.

“One could say if a club goes bust ‘who cares?’. But we care. We care for that club and all the other clubs who would have problems because one club has gone and not paid them and then there is a spiral,” Infantino told Reuters.

“We are doing this after very detailed research which we will publish next month. Our report has analysed 650 clubs all over Europe and it shows around 50 percent of those clubs are making losses every year – and 20 percent are making huge losses every year.

“Huge losses mean more than 20 per cent of their revenue. It also shows of these 650 clubs more than one-third are spending 70 per cent or more of their income on salaries only – which is worrying.”

New UEFA rules will be part of European club licensing regulations. From the 2013-14 season clubs must break even or risk facing exclusion from the Champions and Europa Leagues.

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Who would hire Santana?

By Mazola Molefe | 1 week, 6 days ago

I woke up to the news that former Bafana Bafana coach Joel Santana has been given a new job. And i thought to myself – who in their right mind would do such a thing. During the Confederations Cup, I got an update that left me confused about the Brazilian coach. Some sections of the press for that country told me Santana was a well-respected coach, while others said he was one of the worst coaches in the world. Santana has now been offered a job as head coach of local club Botafogo.
Santana was sacked by the SA Football Association in October last year and was replaced my compatriot Carlos Alberto Parreira. He led Bafana in the Confed Cup in June and had hoped to cash in on the World Cup, being paid R1.4 million as his monthly salary. But I guess he is still loved back home. To me that is funny, what do they see in the man – that most South Africans – excluding SAFA – do not see?

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Hands off Steven Pienaar!!!!!

By Mazola Molefe | 1 week, 6 days ago

There has been all sorts of talk about Everton and Bafana Bafana midfield maestro Steven Pienaar. He has been in brilliant form and deserves all the recognition for it. He worked hard. But why should he leave Everton, and to go back to Germany nogal!!!! He was badly utilized while playing for Borusia Dortmund in 2006-2008 (during which he was loaned out to Everton before being bought outright) and his true potential was not realized.

Now that he is the star of the English Premier League show, everyone wants a big piece of him. No way, hands of Stevie P. At least one more football season at Everton could see him make it to one of the top teams in England and not sit on the bench, i repeat, NOT SIT ON THE BENCH. For now Pienaar, should remain calm under the guidance of David Moyes, nothing more. Bayern Munich are said to also be interested in snapping up the Cape-Town born player as replacement for Franck Ribery. Leave him alone for now.

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Blatter: World Cup 2018 bids may be restricted to Europe

By Mazola Molefe | 2 weeks ago

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said yesterday that a deal is being discussed where only European nations would bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Blatter said he had talked over the deal proposal with Michel Platini, president of UEFA, European football’s governing body.

Russia, England, Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium are the four European bids to stage either the 2018 or 2022 event. Australia, Japan and United States have also bid for either 2018 for 2022 and South Korea, Indonesia and Qatar have all applied to host the 2022 World Cup only.

“There is a movement at the moment among the various candidates that in the end it would be a good solution … if the candidates for 2018 would only be those from Europe,” Blatter said, as quoted by Reuters. “It’s not been finally decided but it’s the idea, also to make the work of FIFA easier and especially that of the executive committee. It would also possibly make the work of the different organisations applying for the World Cup easier.”

FIFA will announce which nations will host both tournaments in December.

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Fifa may use goal-line cameras

By Mazola Molefe | 2 weeks, 1 day ago

FIFA president Joseph Blatter has admitted that goal-line cameras will be introduced to determine whether the ball has gone over the line or not.

“If the system’s security is guaranteed, we will introduce the goal-line technology. But it won’t be ready for the 2010 World Cup,” the FIFA president told Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick, according to a report from news agency Reuters.
The decision will be made in March by rule-making body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB).
Blatter has spent the weekend in Russia, where he was received by the president Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev to discuss the country’s bid to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.
The 73-year-old Swiss also said that he will run for re-election next year if he is “still in good shape.”

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