World Cup 2010: Sepp Blatter praises hosts

Published on Monday 12 July 2010 20:30

FIFA President Sepp Blatter yesterday gave South Africa his highest possible mark for a World Cup that defied sceptics who had predicted disaster.

Blatter said he would give a mark of nine out of ten which was the maximum possible. "Perfection does not exist in our life," he told a news conference.

Last year, when Fifa still had concerns over South African organisation of the vast logistical operation, Blatter had given a mark of 7.5, saying it was below what was required.

"Africa has proven that really they can organise this World Cup... they can be proud," Blatter said, adding that the tournament had changed perceptions of the continent following years of negative reporting and predictions of major criminal incidents in a country notorious for violence.

Blatter, like other senior football officials at the news conference, also paid tribute to the way South Africans had continued to attend matches despite being the first host nation to be knocked out at the group stage.

More than 3.1 million people attended the 64 games, the third highest figure behind the United States in 1994 and Germany in 2006.

Some six million people watched the games in public viewing areas around the world. Fifa said the average television audience in Spain for the final on Sunday night was a record 15.6 million, or nearly 80 per cent of market share, while in the Netherlands it was more than 90 per cent.

Danny Jordaan, the chief local architect of the World Cup, compared the event to the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990 and the first democratic elections in 1994.

He said the tournament "was an incredible moment, a dream has come true...we are very, very happy and very proud to be Africans and South Africans."