June 4 – South Africa, host of the 2010 World Cup and the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, have seemingly got the bug for hosting big football events.
The South African football association put the country forward as a candidate for a further world championship final tournaments at the FIFA Congress in Mauritius last week.
The list of championships they are bidding for are:
– 2016 U-20 Women’s World Cup (up against Ireland and Norway)
– 2016 U-17 Women’s World Cup (up against Bahrain, Ireland and Jordan)
– 2017 U-20 World Cup (up against Bahrain, France, Ireland, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Tunisia and Ukraine)
– 2017 U-17 World Cup (up against Ireland, India and Uzbekistan)
– 2017 Beach Soccer World Cup (up against Argentina, Bahrain, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, India, Israel, Morocco, Seychelles and Turkey).
South Africa’s ambition to host the world is not confined to football.
Speaking in Japan today, South African President Jacob Zuma said his country would be “very happy” if it became the first African nation to host the Olympics in 2024. In 2010 South Africa became the first African nation to host the football World Cup, crowning its full return to the international sporting community after its racial segregation system of apartheid was lifted in 1994.
“If we are given an opportunity in the near future, we’ll certainly welcome that,” said Zuma. “I think South Africa will be very happy to host the Olympics. We have, I think, sufficient facilities to do so.”
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