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[Sports & FIFA2010]

Sports in South Africa

Sport is of greatest importance in South Africa. A large variety of sports is basically comparable to the sports in Europe, although without any winter sports, obviously. Like in many former British dominions, rugby and cricket are the absolutely predominant sports, at least for the white population. Both sports are taught and practised intensely at the schools, rugby, however, not in the lower grades because of the high risk of injury. On the weekends South Africans love watching TV broadcast of rugby and cricket matches. They are proud of the "Springboks", South Africa's national rugby team, which won the World Cup of the Rugby Union in 1995 and the Tri Nations Tournament against Australia and New Zealand in 1998 and 2004.

Soccer

The love of soccer is spreading only slowly among white South Africans. The last Soccer World Cup helped a lot with its promotion. At many schools there are nowadays at least extramural soccer teams. For the black population soccer is the most popular sport for years already. One won't easily find a a township without a soccer club, or a boy who does not play soccer whenever there is an opportunity.

Photo: The "Vuvuzela" is the symbol of South African soccer and most important "tool" of the fans. The plastic trumpet produces an intense sound similar to an elephant's blaring. The Vuvuzela was the war horn of the Zulus and was used to sound an attack.

The South African national soccer team "Bafana Bafana" (meaning "The Boys" in Zulu) is the pride of the nation. At present it is coached by the Brasilian national coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. The team is still young, it was only founded in 1992. But now many of its members are playing for European clubs. Since the end of Apartheid, when South Africa was re-accepted to the FIFA, they managed to qualify twice for the finals in soccer world cups, in 1998 and 2002, but unfortunately not in the last world cup in Germany in 2005. Bafana Bafana won the Africa Championship in 1996. The youth league Amaglug-glug with players under the age of 23 is by now also internationally successful. Its biggest sponsor is the petrochemical giant SASOL, which explains the funny name.

FIFA2010 Soccer World Cup

South Africa will host the World Cup 2010 as the first African country ever. The nation is looking forward to this event with great anticipation. The matches will take place in 9 cities: Soccer City (Johannesburg); Greenpoint Stadium (Cape Town); King Senzangakhona Stadium (Durban); Free State Stadium (Bloemfontein); Mbombela Stadium (Nelspruit); Peter Mokaba Stadium (Polokwane); Nelson Mandela Stadium (Port Elizabeth); Loftus Versfeld (Pretoria) and Royal Bafokeng Stadium (Rustenburg). All the stadiums are going to be enlarged and revamped with no expenses spared, and four of them must be completely rebuilt. South Africa has set itself the ambitious goal to even top the visitor numbers of the last World Cup.