On the day before World Aids day some of the world’s best footballers joined Bono at announcement of partnership between NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) and (RED).

The unique partnership delivers a two-pronged approach to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa, with programmes that offer both education and medication on the ground, and will harness the power of sport to engage youth around the world in the fight against AIDS in Africa.

Footballers involved include: Didier Drogba (Chelsea & Ivory Coast), Joe Cole (Chelsea & England), Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal & Russia), Marco Materazzi (Inter Milan & Italy), Denilson (Arsenal & Brazil), Lucas Neill (Everton & Australia), Clint Dempsey (Fulham & USA) and Seol Ki-Hyeon (Fulham & South Korea). Continue Reading

The City of Tshwane is the first of South Africa’s 2010 FIFA World Cup host cities to launch an international television advertising campaign welcoming tourists.

Tshwane has worked with Southern Africa Direct to create a documentary informing tourists about the city’s key attractions and assuring them about the quality of the transport, health and safety infrastructure.

The documentary premiered on Southern Africa Direct, a Destination TV channel that broadcasts to over 9 million Sky subscribers in the UK on Sky channel 270, as well as globally on the web. The campaign will be supported with online video and interactive maps helping tourists explore South Africa’s capital. Continue Reading

Watching the highlights during the Confed Cup, I couldn’t help noticing how quickly the producers are able to put together all the plays by an individual player or all the saves during a game, for instance. One can’t help noticing the very high level of methodology and accuracy of it all.

A bit of research revealed what the secret is – an amazing secret at that. FIFA have hired the services of very advanced match statistic recording company from Sweden called Tracab for the Confed Cup and the 2010 World Cup, and beyond, I would imagine. Continue Reading

One of the greatest legacies that the 2010 FIFA World Cup will leave is the magnificent new Soccer City Stadium that will host among other games, the opening game and the final. Like Wembley in England, this stadium will be an icon and lasting image that the world will have of the FIFA showpiece.

Inspired by African culture, this Calabash-shaped arena will have an impressive 94 000 seats, making it the biggest stadium in Africa and one of the biggest in the world. No one needs to worry about it not being ready as it is going to finish well in time for the World Cup despite the fact that it has significantly exceeded its initial budget of R1,5 billion. There is no doubt that it will be worth every cent. Continue Reading

It’s impossible not to see and hear nears about how the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is imploding. At the heart of the matter is the R700 million the corporation has lost during the last financial year. The drama has included the resignation of the majority of the board members, the ongoing court dispute between the former CEO and the board, and it goes on.

However, what concerns some of us is the R100 million the SABC owes to SuperSport for its sub-licenses for televised Premier Soccer League (PSL) matches and cricket matches. The public broadcaster has already bankrupted, and almost bankrupted, most of its independent production houses by failing to pay these suppliers amounts reported to be about R55 million. Continue Reading

Just like many youngsters I grew up playing football in the township streets of Manzini in Swaziland. Football for most of us was real passion as we would play for hours till dark without worrying about food. Back then, at that innocent age, football was pure dedication without limit only for the love and passion of soccer.

As we grew up to play more organized soccer at different club levels from under 14 to the senior squad, football became more complex. Growing up playing soccer gives you the ambition to become a soccer star like Pele. We had to start training like professionals to be on top form. It was at this stage that I learnt that in football especially African football there was more to endure to make it as a soccer star. Continue Reading

The official opening of the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 has silenced a lot of critics over whether or not South Africa is capable of successfully hosting an event like the World Cup. The opening ceremony presented an image of South Africa that will sell South Africa to any doubting Thomas.

Congratulations to Lebo M – he of ‘The Lion King’ fame – for putting on a truly magnificent opening show with a very uniquely African theme. The singers coming out of the hut at the centre of the pitch was an absolute winner for me with everything revolving around the ‘home’. This show could not happen anywhere else but Africa. Although it was African in look and feel it used universal devices for expression such as the beautiful mosaics that were created by the performers. Continue Reading

I still can’t believe that the first game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will kick-off in exactly 363 days from now. This will be the big climax to a journey that begins in Johannesburg, this coming Sunday, when the FIFA Confederations Cup starts.

From there onwards it will be Africa’s turn to be at the centre of the most important international competitions. As of next week the whole world will be watching how South Africa project-manages the FIFA Confed Cup.

The successful staging of this tournament will have far-reaching ramifications not only for South Africa but also the rest of the continent. Investors from around the world will know that there is a well structured environment in which to do business. Continue Reading

Believe it or not the South African Revenue Services (SARS) wants to make their own piece of history – they want to tax foreign soccer players at both the FIFA Confed Cup and the 2010 World Cup. This will be the first time that SARS has ever embarked on such a quest. Apparently the legislation now exists that allows SARS to do this.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on which side you look at it from, this legislation did not exist during the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the 2003 Cricket World Cup. A reputable daily business newspaper reported that the foreign soccer stars would be subject to a 15% tax on amounts earned from all matches played in South Africa. Continue Reading

In an effort to get the finer details on sponsorship agreements between clubs and their sponsors, I posed questions to Vodacom about their deal with Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and Bloemfontein Celtics football clubs. Dot Field is the Chief Communications Officer at Vodacom Group and was kind enough to provide answers…

Can you detail your sponsorship agreement with Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs?
As the greatest supporter of SA Soccer, Vodacom has one of largest investments in South African soccer and most certainly, the one with the greatest depth. The company is the official sponsor of Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Bloemfontein Celtic. Continue Reading