Football attention turns to the continent, and not just because of the World Cup, as Inas Mazhar reports Three years ago, the African continent started celebrating the first World Cup awarded to the continent. In May 2004, FIFA declared South Africa as hosts of the first ever World Cup to be held on the continent. While Egypt and a few other African countries have hosted some of youth World Cups, the adult World Cup to be staged in South Africa in three years time remains the most distinguished and prestigious event. FIFA surprised the continent this year by not only choosing 2007 as the year of football in Africa, but by awarding the organisations of two other major World Cup events to two African countries in 2009. During a meeting of the FIFA executive committee on 22 and 23 March, it was agreed that Egypt would host the FIFA U-20 World Cup and that Nigeria would host the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2009. And with South Africa hosting the FIFA Confederations Cup the same year, it promises to be a busy one for the African continent, and an extremely exciting one. Both countries have hosted FIFA junior events in the past, with Egypt hosting the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1997, and Brazil, inspired by a young Ronaldinho, emerging as the winners. Nigeria hosted the U-20 event two years later. This time Spain took the laurels, with many of the stars of the 2006 World Cup in Germany on display, including Esteban Cambiasso, Rafael Marquez, Xavi and the irrepressible Ronaldinho. The dates for both tournaments are yet to be announced. Yesterday, the board of directors of the Egyptian Football Association was scheduled to meet to set the wheels in motion and decide on the organising committee which will host the tournament. "We have a good record of being excellent organisers on all levels whether it be big or small events,' said EFA president Samir Zaher. "We know that we are trustworthy in that matter. We successfully organised the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1997 and despite being a junior event, the crowds made it a real success. Even supporters in Port Said, where Brazil played in its group, drove more than 200kms to follow Brazil in the final," Zaher said. "The 2006 African Nations Cup which Egypt hosted and won was also successful and even created a legacy in Egypt. We want to do it again in 2009. We'll start immediately and will select dedicated and professional people for the organising committee. Our challenge is that this tournament comes a year ahead of the World Cup in 2010 and the confederations Cup in 2009. We do not only want to impress FIFA but the participating nations and the world as well," Zaher added. Naming the organising committee for the Youth World Cup will not be the only issue on the EFA agenda. The appointment of the technical staff that will lead the Egyptian team must also be discussed. Before Egypt was awarded the organisation, the intention was to appoint former national team and Ahli star Rabie Yassin as head coach. But now that Egypt is hosting the event it is expected to compete for may be a semi-final place. Thus, the intention is to keep Yassin as an assistant coach and search for a European as manager. Mahmoud El-Gohari, who took Egypt to the 1990 World Cup, is also a candidate, according to newspaper reports. It wasn't only the officials who were excited by the news but the public as well. "It's great news. We'll have a World Cup staged in Egypt again," said Mustafa Zaki, a university student at the faculty of engineering. "It doesn't matter if it is not the seniors because the youth event is as exciting as the seniors. The players are under-20 and we have seen so many players even younger of impressive talents and skills at the seniors World Cup. Brazil's Pele was 17 when he first played at the World Cup in 1958 for example and there are many others who were under 20 and played for their national teams. "I can't wait until the date is set for the tournament to kick-off. I pray it won't coincide with my final exams as I'll be in my final year in 2009," Zaki said. Two months earlier, FIFA president Joseph Blatter and his CAF counterpart FIFA vice-president Issa Hayatou had addressed African heads of state and government at the 8th African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The AU confirmed the launch of the International Year of African Football to coincide with this year's 50th anniversary of CAF's founding in 1957. In an address that focused on the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the "Win in Africa with Africa" initiative, Blatter emphasised that "for FIFA and the whole world, taking the World Cup to Africa is practically a moral obligation to African football and to the African people." He also appealed to African governments and the international community to get behind the development of Africa and proposed football as the vehicle for educational, social and health initiatives and as a tool in the fight against discrimination so as to reinforce national unity. For his part, Hayatou paid homage to all those who have fought for African football in the past 50 years in order to secure it the place it deserves. "South Africa, we trust you," Blatter announced after a meeting of governing body chiefs. "The executive committee is now convinced that South Africa will be a good host for the World Cup," he added. "Today they all stand united behind South Africa and the organisation of this important competition." Blatter said a key confidence-building step had been taken by the South African government in February with its approval of an additional budget to tackle security for fans and visitors, transport and logistics. FIFA had reiterated concern at the lack of progress on building work for new stadiums in South Africa at its last executive committee meeting in December, when Blatter called for "a little bit of fire" in the preparations. South African World Cup chief executive Danny Jordaan had pledged that all unfinished stadiums would be ready by October 2007, and Horst Schmidt, vice president of the 2010 organising committee had told a German newspaper that the organisers were on schedule. "I do not doubt for a second that the World Cup will take place in South Africa. It will be a different World Cup from the one which took place last summer in Germany but it will certainly not be any less impressive," added Schmidt, who is also general secretary of the German Football Federation (DFB). The preliminary competition of the 19th edition of the World Cup in 2010 kicked off with 204 national teams taking part all over the world. This record number includes the host country, South Africa, and Montenegro, which will likely become the 208th FIFA member association in May, subject to approval by the FIFA congress. Only the football associations of the Philippines, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam and Laos did not register to take part in FIFA's flagship competition. The previous record was set by the preliminary competition for the 2002 World Cup in which 199 teams entered and 193 teams participated. For the 2006 World Cup, 198 teams were registered and 194 played the preliminary competition. The first qualifying matches will take place in August 2007. The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) will use the South Pacific Games to be held from 25 August to 8 September of this year as a preliminary qualifying tournament for the Oceania region. While South Africa qualify automatically as hosts, the other 31 places in the final competition of the World Cup (11 June-11 July 2010) have been allocated as follows: (Asia): 4.5, (Africa): 5, CONCACAF (North, Central America and the Caribbean): 3.5, CONMEBOL (South America): 4.5, (Oceania): 0.5 and (Europe): 13. Asia and the OFC will compete for one berth and the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL to compete for one berth.
