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FIFA secretary Jerome Valcke blasts England & Germany for negative World Cup coverage
European giants not giving South Africa fair chance...
27 Jan 2010 17:49:00
By Zack Wilson
FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke has criticised the media in England and Germany for their negative portrayal of South Africa in the run-up to this summer's World Cup.
Valcke thinks that people in those two countries are ignorant of what the situation is truly like in South Africa and are not giving the country a chance to prove itself by hosting such a high-profile event.
"It's sad that every morning you wake up and every morning there are articles from the world's football family saying that people should not fly to South Africa, that this is a dangerous country, that this is not good, that there is no way this person should fly to South Africa because it is a crazy country, that FIFA and (Sepp) Blatter made the wrong decision to host the World Cup in South Africa," he said, according to Press Association Sport.
"What we are asking is for fair treatment for South Africa, the same treatment that all the other World Cup countries got.
When asked to specify which countries in particular were to blame for the negative coverage he added: "I would say mainly in Europe from Germany and England. These are the two countries.
"I have not seen so much from France, Italy or Spain or from Holland or any of the other countries that have qualified.
"But again, these two countries are very big voices in the football family and that's why any time they are talking about the World Cup football, it's immediately in the headlines.
"So there is no specific person, there are a lot of people who have been talking about South Africa and saying 'don't go to South Africa' so my comment is going to all of them and not specifically to one of them."
FIFA's latest figures suggest that two out of three million tickets for the finals have been sold with five months left until the big kick-off.
The highest demand for tickets has come from the United States, where 50,217 have been snapped up so far.
The is next with 41,529 and then Australia, where fans have purchased 15,523.
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Valcke thinks that people in those two countries are ignorant of what the situation is truly like in South Africa and are not giving the country a chance to prove itself by hosting such a high-profile event.
"It's sad that every morning you wake up and every morning there are articles from the world's football family saying that people should not fly to South Africa, that this is a dangerous country, that this is not good, that there is no way this person should fly to South Africa because it is a crazy country, that FIFA and (Sepp) Blatter made the wrong decision to host the World Cup in South Africa," he said, according to Press Association Sport.
"What we are asking is for fair treatment for South Africa, the same treatment that all the other World Cup countries got.
When asked to specify which countries in particular were to blame for the negative coverage he added: "I would say mainly in Europe from Germany and England. These are the two countries.
"I have not seen so much from France, Italy or Spain or from Holland or any of the other countries that have qualified.
"But again, these two countries are very big voices in the football family and that's why any time they are talking about the World Cup football, it's immediately in the headlines.
"So there is no specific person, there are a lot of people who have been talking about South Africa and saying 'don't go to South Africa' so my comment is going to all of them and not specifically to one of them."
FIFA's latest figures suggest that two out of three million tickets for the finals have been sold with five months left until the big kick-off.
The highest demand for tickets has come from the United States, where 50,217 have been snapped up so far.
The is next with 41,529 and then Australia, where fans have purchased 15,523.
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| Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
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| Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200 |
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