The Department of Sports and Recreation has put aside R25 million to be used for the training of volunteers for the 2010 World Cup.

The Department of Sports and Recreation has put aside R25 million to be used for the training of volunteers for the 2010 World Cup.

The Local Organising Committee has announced that they will need 5000 volunteers for the 2009 Confederations Cup and 15000 for the World Cup.

World soccer governing soccer body Fifa and the LOC are expected to officially begin the process of recruiting the volunteers on July 1.

Onke Mjo, former South African Olympic Confederation and Olympic Committee support federations manager, heads the Organising Committee's volunteers programme.

The LOC plans to recruit ordinary people and specialists in various fields to work as volunteers for the two competitions

The specialists will include medical practitioners, translators, people from the legal fraternity, communication, media and information technology experts. There are also plans to recruit disabled people.

General volunteers will operate in areas such as liaison, accreditation, spectator services, fan parks, transport, hospitality and logistics.

Only one national volunteer programme will be rolled out by the 2010 LOC to all the official host cities and any other official pre-event host.

All the host cities will have host city ambassadors who will provide information and support to all visitors and spectators.

To qualify as a volunteer, you must be at least 18 years old by March 2009 for the Confederations Cup, and by March 2010 for the World Cup.

One of the sponsors of the World Cup will be responsible for recruiting and placing all the ball boys and girls, flag bearers and player guides under the age of 18.

The registration of volunteers will open online on the Fifa website.

Sports and Recreation South Africa has signed a service level agreement with the Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Education and Training Authority for the training of 2010 volunteers.