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South African FIFA 2010 Head Quarters Soccer City Johannesburg ready

'SAFA house' on soccer city site the official 2010 Local Organising Committee headquarters

The new headquarters for the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup will be completed and fully operational by the end of October, FIFA says.

This comes just 11 months after FIFA President Sepp Blatter and President Thabo Mbeki held a sod-turning ceremony at what is to be the South African Football Association's (SAFA) new home.

"SAFA House will become the central nerve centre of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, hosting operations for FIFA and the South African Local Organising Committee.

"Meant for 250 staff members, the headquarters will be a base during the organisation and preparation of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa," FIFA said on its website.

The construction began in November last year at the site of Soccer City in Nasrec, Johannesburg.

The new building will be 5000 square metres in size, topped off by a dome measuring 16 metres across.

The world football governing body said the headquarters would feature a "breathtaking" triple volume entrance with a museum charting the history of South Africa's football while displaying football movies in a special 'pod' at the centre of the hall.

According to the building's architect Bob Van Bebber, he drew his inspiration from the world-class design from FIFA's new home in Zurich, Switzerland.

"The idea for the circular walkways that go around the inside of the barreled entrance hall came from the home of FIFA and will be used to accommodate displays similar to those that we saw in Zurich," he said.

Beyond 2010, SAFA House is to become not only the headquarters of the South African Football Association but also the home of the Premier Soccer League.

Most of the internal work such as wiring and the installation of
air-conditioning were sub-contracted to Black Economic Empowerment companies to address previous disparities within the South African economy, said FIFA.

Countrywide, the construction of four new stadiums is expected to be completed in three years' time.

The stadiums will be designed for Cape Town (Greenpoint Stadium), Durban (Kings' park Stadium) and Port Elizabeth (Nelson Mandela Bay) and Nelspruit (Mbombela Stadium). Of these, Durban's is set to be the biggest, hosting 85 000 soccer fans.

The stadium in Port Elizabeth is to have capacity for 40 000 while Cape Town's venue will seat 70 000 and have a retractable roof. The Green Point stadium has been earmarked for one of the semi-finals games.

The other six stadiums in Rustenburg (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace), Bloemfontein (Free State Stadium), Pretoria (Loftus Versfeld Stadium) Polokwane (Peter Mokaba Stadium) and Johannesburg (Soccer City and Ellis Park Stadiums) are being upgraded.

The German state of Bavaria is encouraging South African companies to attend a real estate trade fair in October 2006, saying it will attract investors in the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Hans Spitzner, Bavaria's deputy minister for economic affairs said that SA could benefit from experience Germany was gaining in staging the 2006 Football World Cup.

Specific areas of opportunity that could be triggered by the event included the development of shopping malls, entertainment venues and residential developments, he said. The 2010 Football World Cup is expected to generate billions of rands.