SA 2009: FIFA president bemoans attendance

  1. Posted on Tuesday 16 June 2009 - 10:50
    Sam Banda Junior
    Image of Sam Banda Junior
    Sam Banda Jnr, AfricaNews reporter in Blantyre, Malawi
    As the Confederations Cup continues in South Africa, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has bemoaned the low turnout in the opening games. The FIFA boss has therefore suggested that unsold tickets for Confederations Cup matches should be given away rather than have empty seats at games. The games will run for two weeks.
    Stepp blatter_ABC
    During the two opening games for Group A involving South Africa and Iraq, and Spain against New Zealand the stadiums did not attract an impressive crowd.

    The Spain and New Zealand game is said to have attracted about 21,649 people, just over half the stadium’s capacity of 42,000.

    The Fifa president is reported to have held a meeting with organisers over the issue in that they could have done better to attract more people to the event.

    The Confederations Cup which has attracted eight teams among them Brazil and European champions Spain is a warm up for South Africa as they look to host the 2010 World Cup.

    "I had a meeting with the organising committee this morning (Monday), and I think they should have done a little bit more to bring more people to the stadium,” said Blatter.

    He said there was need for an action to be taken to improve the turnout in the stadiums adding that FIFA was not ready for the half-empty stadiums.

    "We know that the prices of the tickets cannot be too high, but bring the young people or the poor people into the stadium, and nobody will be offended by that,” said Blatter.

    The attendance at the match between five-times world champions Brazil and African champions Egypt, which Blatter attended on Monday was also said to be disappointingly low with the 40,000-capacity Free State Stadium only about half full when the match kicked off.

    The match saw Brazil snatch victory in the dying minutes to win 4-3 through a penalty scored by Kaka.

    It was a scintillating match which saw Brazil lead 3-1 at half-time but the Pharaohs of Egypt hit back scoring two goals in a space of six minutes to level the scores at 3-3.

    But Brazil managed to scrape through with a last minute goal through a penalty scored by Kaka after an Egyptian player handled the ball on the goal line.

    The country’s organising committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo was quoted by Reuters as calling upon South Africans to patronize the event.

    "We have emphasised many times this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Our job is to stage the event but it is up to the South African nation to attend it," said Mkhondo.

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