Kofi Annan to promote 2010 World Cup in South Africa

Jul 4, 2006, 16:27 GMT

Berlin - Kofi Annan will help promote the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after his term as UN secretary general expires at the end of 2006, according to FIFA president Joseph Blatter.

'He will play a supporting role in the preparations,' Blatter told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The South African 2010 World Cup logo will be unveiled at a ceremony called Africa's Calling in Berlin on Friday, which South African President Thabo Mbeki, Annan as well as Blatter will attend.

The FIFA boss, for whom the 2010 tournament is particularly important as he has always pushed for the finals to be held in Africa, has said he was concerned at delays that have marked the preparations so far.

'However, I will not let a few minor hiccups spoil this huge adventure.'

One of the issues that has been raised is the question of stadiums, with four new stadiums still having to be built and six others renovated or modernised.

Officials in the four cities where the stadiums are to be built (Cape Town, Nelspruit, Durban and Port Elizabeth), are adament that they will have no problems in having things ready well in time.

FIFA official Michael Palmer, who heads the FIFA office in South Africa said that he, too, is not worried about stadiums.

'There are good, experienced people working on them, and there's been real support from the South African government to get the funding in place. So we feel pretty confident about the stadiums.

'The South Africa 2010 local organizing committee has so far delivered for FIFA everything they were supposed to, ahead of schedule and our view of them at the moment is excellent.

'They have been working quietly behind the scenes, as FIFA have not wanted the focus taken away from Germany,' he told South African media.

South Africa will be the first African nation to host a World Cup.

The UN secretary general, who hails from Ghana, is due Friday to attend a meeting in Berlin to promote the 2010 tournament.