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Jordaan aids Nigerians

Danny Jordaan, the Local Organising Committee chief executive, will address Nigerian soccer and business leaders in Lagos tomorrow.

Danny Jordaan, the Local Organising Committee chief executive, will address Nigerian soccer and business leaders in Lagos tomorrow.

At the invitation of the Football Association of Nigeria, Jordaan will make a presentation on the effect of the 2010 World Cup on Africa.

"The Nigerian soccer authorities and business have organised a conference to map the way forward in terms of the future of football.

"They will discuss ways and means of strengthening the new professional football league and also luring big business into the sport," said Jordaan.

"We all know that the World Cup will generate a lot of money, there are things such as broadcast rights and sponsorship.

"Right now there is talk that the tournament will generate more than R300 million in revenue for Bafana Bafana. We are excited that there is sponsorship for leagues in Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique.

"There are some major developments in terms of infrastructure: Angola are building stadiums to prepare for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. What the sport must do in Africa is to position itself. We need to put structures in place and have a new business model to take care of the opportunities.

"The South African Football Association's response was to create a commercial wing, the Nigerians are working on doing pretty much the same structure."

Meanwhile, Jordaan and LOC chairman Irvin Khoza are in Zurich to address the Fifa Bureau of the Organising Committee of the World Cup. The committee, which is made up of presidents of the various soccer confederations, is chaired by Confederation of African Football leader Issa Hayatou.

"It is the first meeting of the bureau after the re-election of Fifa president Sepp Blatter. Some of the members include Michel Platini and Franz Beckenbauer," said Jordaan.

"Irvin Khoza and I are members of that committee. We will be making a presentation and report back on the World Cup preparations. Everything has been going well in terms of the preparations and we are excited that work has started where we are building new stadiums."

Today, the Fifa executive will also meet where Blatter will brief them on his recent impressions on South Africa's World Cup preparations.

l ramatsiyi@sowetan.co.za

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