Jan 25, 2009, 15:57 GMT
Zurich - FIFA president Joseph Blatter has reiterated his faith in South Africa's ability to host the 2010 World Cup.
With Monday marking 500 days to go until the tournament kicks off at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg on June 11, 2010, the world football supremo Blatter urged the world to trust the country and the African continent as a whole to deliver a successful and memorable event.
'The World Cup started in 1930 and we have been to all the continents, but never Africa,' Blatter said in an interview with the FIFA website.
'Africa has given the world of football so many, many talented and outstanding players, coaches, clubs and national teams and therefore it was justice that one day that they would host the World Cup in Africa. Now it is Africa's time.'
Although World Cup fever has yet to grip South Africa, construction of new stadiums and upgrades of existing ones is in full swing, together with a massive overhaul of the apartheid-era transport system.
Generators are also being installed in every stadium to ensure no repeat of last year's blackouts when it hosts the World Cup in 2010.
The Confederations Cup in June will serve as a big test, but Blatter said he was confident South Africa would live up to the challenge of delivering a top quality World Cup.
'They will do it - especially with all the arrangements they have made in terms of construction, technical and logistical infrastructure; transport, hospitality, accommodation, etc - because this country is organized,' he said.
'South Africa is an organized country. They haven't had all the civic and political rights other countries have had until 1994, so it is a young republic, but an organized one.'
Blatter refuted suggestions that the global economic crisis would have an impact on preparations, saying all the tournament's budgets had already been composed and ratified.
'Naturally, we might not have the same return of investment as we had at the last World Cup in 2006 (in Germany), but the world was a different place then,' said Blatter.
'For FIFA, it's not important to get money out of Africa, but it's important to us that the Africans enjoy organising their own World Cup - and they will do.'
The 72-year-old also believes preparations for the World Cup will help South Africa in its battle against rampant violent crime while a successful tournament would be a boost for Africa.
'Through the competition, there will be extremely tight security, just as there is at the Olympic Games and other huge sporting events,' Blatter told FIFA.com.
'We hope that this security will be maintained after the World Cup in order to ensure that we have left a legacy. The other legacy is for the whole of Africa.'
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