“Feel it, it is here!”

Opening of the 1st Soccer World Cup in Africa

10/06/2010

All eyes are on the countdown clock as South Africa prepares for the opening ceremony and kick-off of the first FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup^TM on African soil, on Friday 11 June. “Feel it, it is here!” is the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s official marketing campaign slogan for the event, and South Africans are certainly feeling it. Although the World Cup^TM kicks off on Friday 11 June, with the opening ceremony at 2pm and the first game at 4pm (GMT+2), South Africans are already celebrating the start of the international games.

Various host cities have either revamped their existing stadiums, or built stylish new stadiums. Some of these host cities are ICLEI member cities whose stadiums and related Green Goals can be seen at www.iclei.org/africa. We are proud to exhibit the various projects implemented by various South African ICLEI Member Cities in transforming their preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup^TM into a more sustainable and low-environmental-impact process, through their Green Goals Inititative.

ICLEI Africa staff showed their support for the upcoming event by riding on the new MyCiti bus transport system in Cape Town’s inner city in supporters wear, along with representatives of the City of Cape Town. The city also offers a new shuttle service to and from the airport to make it easier for those coming and going during the Soccer World Cup^TM.

On 9 June, just two days before kick-off, South Africa united behind the national team, Bafana Bafana, by taking to the streets at 12pm to blow their vuvuzelas for five minutes. “The whole continent is behind you” said President Jacob Zuma to the national team. He explained that this was an important gesture from the South African people to Bafana Bafana, showing their full support for their team.

Besides concern for his frail condition, former South African president Nelson Mandela is expected to attend the opening of the World Cup^TM on Friday 11 June. There is much anticipation that his presence at the event will have a similar uniting effect to what it did for South Africa’s rugby team when they won the World Cup in 1995. To view match schedules, please visit www.fifa.com/matches.