Half-time
Final countdown
By
Inas Mazhar
The deadline for Egypt to present its bidding file to host the 2010 World Cup is inching closer. The countdown for the file presentation is ticking, giving involved parties and the bidding committee in charge little time to place their final alterations.
Egypt is expected to present its file by the end of this month; the 29 and 30 of September. FIFA will announce the winner in May 2004, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of FIFA.
The talk of the town these days is the presentation committee -- hand-picked by Minister of Youth Alieddin Hilal. The committee is comprised, in theory, of a select group of world famous national figures and celebrities -- deemed most- appropriate to present and represent the file. The committee will be announced by the end of this week.
"The committee should be very well selected and picked," the minister told the local media. "It's important we select the right and powerful pioneer national figures in order to transfer the ambitions and hopes of more than 65 million Egyptians to the FIFA committee in their presentation. They must be exceptionally gifted in presentation and persuasion," he said, adding his delight to the strong national support in promoting and supporting Egypt's bid for the world's most prestigious event.
While anticipation is of course high, a well-studied scientific research and plan assures the public that "everything will be fine".
Ministers, internationally respected Egyptian figures such as scientist Ahmed Zuweil, Archeologist Zahi Hawass, and actor Omar El-Sherif are among the names to join the presentation committee.
We certainly hope the studies are right about the strength and power of our presentation committee, and that we are indeed able to capture the minds of FIFA officials. Persuading the world officials with our file is the first step towards accomplishing the long-awaited dream of all Egyptians -- both those involved in sports and those not.
Egypt should experience from other countries who have preceded us in preparing files and winning bids as well. Germany has a big experience in being awarded the honour to host the 2006 World cup. The European country snatched the award from South Africa, Egypt's main arch rival in the race to winning the 2010 bid, by only one vote for the sake of the Germans.
While the study sounds nice, to be frank, most Egyptians are pessimistic, myself being one of them -- not quite able to believe that Egypt can compete with South Africa and be given the honour of playing host to the World Cup. We hope that our theory will prove wrong and we might be able to fulfil a dream. That would be a miracle. A useful one of course.
A look back at all the previous hosts, all nations -- including less lavish countries such as Mexico -- have gained tremendously from hosting the one-month event; politically, economically, socially and touristically.
South Korea, which co-hosted the 2002 edition with Japan, offered its inhabitants more than 350,000 jobs, 60,000 volunteers, 20,000 interpreters with more than 400,000 tourists visiting the nation during the tournament occupying more than 30,000 hotel rooms and 40,000 apartments. Both Japanese and Korean markets witnessed an intense flourish in the market four years before the event and won more than 1.3 billion dollars during the championship from TV rights and sponsors.
Can we dream of a similar feat? Can we be granted with the opportunity for a market and economic flourishing that would otherwise take us twenty years to achieve -- or perhaps even more if we lose the bid.
