The countdown for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa has begun. On 11 June the contest will kick off at Johannesburg’s Soccer City Stadium in the first FIFA World Cup to be held on the African continent. Host South Africa and Germany, which organized the last World Cup in 2006, are now providing information about the super event of the 2010 international sports year. The English and German website headed “Germany in 2006, South Africa in 2010: Let’s Stay Friends” is published by the Germany Embassy in Pretoria. The site at www.deutschland-suedafrika-fussball.diplo.de offers advice and information about the World Cup and its venues, the host country on the Cape and the enthusiasm for sport in South Africa. The website also provides detailed information about development cooperation programmes and projects with which the German Federal Government and non-governmental organizations support partners in South Africa. Germany’s ambassador to South Africa, Dieter W. Haller, sums up the idea of the portal saying: “The website is designed to provide information about the 2010 World Cup in South Africa that’s useful and worth reading for people interested in football, South Africa fans, for young and old, Germans and South Africans.”
