Earlier this year, South Africa became the first country in the Dark Continent to host the World Cup.
Skeptics questioned the decision of world governing body FIFA to award South Africa the rights to host football’s most prestigious event but the tournament proved a great success.
More than 3.1 million people attended the 64 games, the third highest figure after the United States in 1994 and Germany in 2006.
“Doubters were silenced after the great success of South Africa,” said FIFA Vice President and Confederation of African Football (CAF) chief Issa Hayatou in an interview with the Moroccan newspaper Al-Mountakhab.
“Everything was great but the press kept doubting South Africa’s abilities, saying that the stadiums would be empty and the organization would be poor. Several other countries in Africa are capable of hosting the World Cup such as Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria."
“We just need to trust them just like we trusted South Africa,” said Hayatou, who recently denied claims made by a British Television program that he took bribes from FIFA’s former marketing partner, ISL.
Egypt competed to host the 2010 World Cup but lost in an embarrassing fashion after failing to gain even one vote in FIFA’s executive committee ballot.
The huge disappointment, which was termed 'the World Cup zero scandal’ by the local media, sparked outrage in the country and prompted a flurry of investigations into the unexpected outcome.
Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup while Russia and Qatar are set to host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, respectively.
Short link: