Confederations Cup: Can South Africa Repeat Their IPL Success?

As the 2009 Indian Premier League came to an end on Sunday, South African president Jacob Zuma declared, "The month-long IPL has revived the country's economy. It has boosted the South African economy by 1 billion rand with the number of hotel rooms booked and the number of flights that were added. It has given a fillip to South African tourism. The IPL was a great advertisement for next month's Confederations Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.”

Nine times out of ten you would have been cynical of that and would have delve deeper to try and find out for yourself whether indeed the competition has been as successful as it is being claimed to be, but this is the one time that you can't help agreeing.

This year’s IPL was slated to be held in the cricket-mad nation of India but thanks to the election dates coinciding with the match dates and the Indian government unable to assure full security, the much hyped competition was airlifted to South Africa, a nation that is as much famous for cricket as it is for football.

To state that the IPL 2009 has been a success would be an understatement. Initially there were apprehensions whether South Africa could organize such a mega event as successfully as it should but in the past month or so all those fears have been allayed and nullified. The South African sports organizers have demonstrated that they can host a major sporting event successfully even at short notice.

Which has now made all those cynics who initially doubted South Africa's credentials to host the 2010 World Cup finals look stupid. The IPL was a precursor to the Confederations Cup that is scheduled to be held in the nation from June 14. The Confederations Cup is a mini-World Cup (well, sort of), itself a precursor to the World Cup finals in which the respective confederation winners along with the World Cup winners and the hosts would compete to become the best of the lot. It is one of the major football competitions in the world and gives an idea of how the nation that is to host the World Cup will cope with the whole affair.

Hosting the IPL has given South Africa a huge boost. This was always going to be an exercise to show the world that they do possess the necessary credentials to host a major sporting event. In the past this illustrious nation has hosted the Rugby and Cricket World Cups and after their successful hosting of the IPL campaign, it is only fair that people start believing in their abilities.

The IPL saw no incident with fan trouble or terrorism. The visiting fans and the tourists had a great time with everything organized to perfection. Security was tight and there were no incidents of anyone getting hurt. Of course, you might point out that an IPL isn't necessarily as huge as a Confederations Cup, let alone a World Cup, but given South Africa's ability to cope with the IPL situation, it is only fair that we give them the benefit of the doubt.

If you ask the organizers in South Africa, they would tell you just how well organized and secure the IPL has been this year. The chairman of Cricket South Africa, Dr Mtutuzeli Nyoka, was earlier quoted as saying, "I don't think there's any doubt in anyone's mind now about security next year. I'm sure FIFA is looking at the situation and if they were to talk to any IPL players or administrators, they would hear how well they have been looked after from a security point of view. When you go to the stadiums, you see how strict security is - it's been amazing - so South Africa is ready to go as far as security is concerned."

Moreover, only four World Cup venues would be used for the Confederations Cup which is only going to help allay fears of security in the nation. Speaking to the BBC earlier this month, Ivor Hoff, chief director of sport for Gauteng Province that will host the World Cup final explained, "We have recently staged the Indian Premier League cricket at short notice and our elections, featuring 17 million people, were held in two days and without incident. We are very confident that South Africa can host the World Cup successfully. The Confederations Cup will give us the necessary understating of our strengths and weaknesses. It is a huge project but we will be ready. And making sure we have a successful competition can help make sure we are ready for 2010."

As unbiased and objective it sounds, it is also a frank admission that some things still need to be sorted out. The Confederations Cup will certainly be a measurement of South Africa's ability to organize and host the Football World Cup and if any problem arises, then it can be mitigated and eradicated between now and 2010 World Cup finals.

But what about the fans? How have they been welcoming the idea of hosting the World Cup finals for the first ever time in the so-called Dark Continent? Goal.com's World Cup Editor Peter Pedroncelli says that people in South Africa are more than just eager to play host to the biggest single sports event in the world.

“South African sentiment towards the tournament is very positive, and stats show that the few cynical people are decreasing as we get closer to the event. The expenditure is being considered in terms of the end product and especially the legacy that all the improvements (stadia, roads, telecommunications, security) will leave the country with. So in that way the money being spent is likely to be recuperated through tourism booms, improvements and job creation.”

Subhankar Mondal 

So what do you think? Is the Confederations Cup going to be a huge success? Or are you still skeptical of South Africa’s credentials to host the 2010 World Cup finals? Goal.com wants to know what you think.