Africa

The organisers of this year’s football World Cup in South Africa are altering ticket sales procedures in an effort to boost weak local demand.

As the Togo team returns home from the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, 2010 FIFA World Cup organising committee CEO Danny Jordaan and FIFA president Sepp Blatter have played down security fears for this year’s World Cup in South Africa.

The South African Football Association has hired lawyer Leslie Sedibe as CEO, after Raymond Hack left the post on Wednesday.

Simon Brown (Kick4change) on cynicism, CSR, and Sponsorship of the 2010 FIFA World Cup

The South African wine industry is expecting the 2010 World Cup to kickstart worldwide sales as it enters a tough trading period.

Horst R. Schmidt, head of ticketing for next year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa, has said the demand for corporate tickets is lower now than in the previous edition of the tournament.

German sports apparel producer Adidas is hoping its sponsorship at the 2010 football World Cup and new products associated with the tournament will help slow sales in 2009 pick up next year.

Football’s 2010 World Cup will see a total of $420 million in prize money handed out, a 61-per-cent increase on the last tournament in 2006.

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has said that South Africa has hit its target of available hotel beds to cope with the 500,000 visitors expected in the country for next year’s football World Cup.

Former Arsenal CEO David Dein has delivered a robust defence of the English Premier League’s ban on third-party ownership of footballers.

British airline Virgin Atlantic is sponsoring this year’s VIP Lounge at the 2009 Soccerex Global Convention.

Telecoms company Globacom has denied the 2009 payment of their sponsorship of the Nigeria Football Federation has been late by 11 months.

The Sport Industry Awards are to be replicated in South Africa in 2011, at the Emperors Palace in Ekurhuleni on February 17, with Virgin Active signed as headline sponsor.

FIFA, football’s world governing body, has announced an extraordinary general meeting in Cape Town on December 2 to discuss a series of pressing matters.

Brazil’s World Cup-winning manager Carlos Alberto Parreira, who has agreed to return to manage South Africa at the World Cup in 2010, has been announced as a speaker at the 2009 Soccerex convention.

Football industry conference the Soccerex Global Convention will be attended by many of the top names in world football, including major clubs and sports brands.