South Africa Football from A to Z

All about Soccer in Cape Town and the Soccer Worldcup 2010

Finally, we are ready for 2010... South Africa Football ....ready to kick off!

Here you will find my Cape Town soccer alphabet with some interesting facts and some typical South African Terms. Enjoy;)

A for Ajax: Ajax Cape Town is Cape Town’s own premier soccer league team. This Cape Town soccer club whose nickname is "Urban Warriors", trains at the Newlands Stadium. Ajax just signed Lance Davids who is a midfielder of the South African National Team.

B for Bafana Bafana: South Africa’s National team "The Boys" had their first worldcup appearance in 1998, never went beyond the first round in the last worldcups but surprised with 4th place in the Confederations Cup 2009.

C for Confederations Cup: Even though no game of the Confederations Cup 2009 was played in Cape Town, The Confed Cup acted as a good test for the coming Worldcup. The atmosphere during games in the Mother City was great. Lots of restaurants showed the games on big screens. And the South African National Football Team managed to play in the semi-finals and had lots of support from cheerful South African Fans.

E for Equipment: shopping for sports gear in Cape Town is very popular with tourist and expats. Great sports equipment is much cheaper than overseas and you will find a huge variety not only of South Africa football equipment easily at the major sports retailers. Try one of the many Sports stores in Cape Town’s big shopping centers or check out Sportsmans Warehouse, South Africa’s biggest sports equipment stores.

F for Fanparks in Cape Town: The main fan park for the South Africa Football Worldcup will be in front of the beautiful Cape Town City Hall at the Grand Parade which is currently undergoing renovation. There will be however further fanparks in the city. Read more about Soccer in Cape Town and the major fan mile here.

G for Greenpoint Stadium: One of the South Africa’s World Cup Stadiums. Eight World Cup matches will take place in 2010 in this newly built Cape Town stadium, including one quarter final match as well as one semifinal match. Find lots of pictures, information and a video introduction here.

H for Helplines for Worldcup Visitors: Note down these numbers for any emergency: Police 10111, Ambulance 10177, Cellphone Emergency Number 112. Find more emergency numbers here.

I for Information Centers: There are several tourism information centres throughout Cape Town. The Cape Town Stadium has got its own visitor center, you will find my link above at Greenpoint Stadium;). Find more info on the tourist info centers here.

J for Jobs for Volonteers: People from all over the world can apply for volunteer jobs in Cape Town South Africa for 2010. Apply at FIFA or try to get volunteer jobs at the sponsors of the Worldcup, like Sony, adidas, Coca Cola etc.

K for Kaizer Chiefs: The most popular and successful South African team from Tshwane was founded by former South African football player Kaizer Motaung who went to become a famous player in the US in the late 1960s before his return back home to South Africa. The Kaizer Chiefs have many supporters in Cape Town.

L for Latest soccer News and Results: Get the most recent fixtures and results as well as info about live coverage here. You also find a widget you can add to your favorites here.

M for More than Just a Game: South Africa Football Film by South African Producer Anant Singh which shows the involvement of the organized soccer in Apartheid times. It tells the story of five Robben Island Prisoners who were held there as political activists during Apartheid. It shows their commitment, discipline and creativity to play to strict rules and the formation of the Makana Football Association (MFA) which recently got a honorary membership awarded by the FIFA. More info, photo gallery and trailer here.

N for Newlands Stadium: The Premier League of South Africa Football plays the matches of the Cape Town teams Ajax and Santos are currently played at Newlands. Cape Town’s oldest stadium was built in 1890 and has a capacity of 51,900 seats. Various other clubs use the stadium, including the Western Province Rugby Team.

O for Opening Matches 2010 Worldcup: Cape Town and Johannesburg hosted the first two Worldcup Matches 2010 on June 11, 2010. The 2010 Opening Ceremony was held in Johannesburg at the newly build Soccer City stadium, which is nicknamed "The African Pot". Find great pictures of this great South Africa football stadium here.

P for Premier Soccer League: The 16 best South African Football teams are playing in the PSL. The champions for the last two seasons in South African football was SuperSport United Football Club of Pretoria. The South African PSL season lasts from August until February.

Q for Quiz: Did you know that you can win tickets to Cape Town when taking part in FIFA’s monthly soccerquiz? More info on how to Win tickets to South Africa here.

R for Radebe or better Lucas Radebe: South Africa Football's most famous soccer player Lucas Radebe will be South Africa’s Tourism Ambassador 2010. Radebe who played also for Englands Premier League Club Leeds United from 1998-2002 retired from playing professional soccer in 2005.

S for Soccer in Cape Town: Ajax and Santos or Engen Santos Football Club are the two premier league teams in Cape Town: Santos’ nickname is "The People’s Team". The last time they won the South African PL championships was in 2002. Soccer is with Rugby and Cricket the most popular sport with the Capetonians. Read more about Soccer in Cape Town.

T for Tickets: For the first time in Worldcup history FIFA will hand out free tickets in South Africa. Through the FIFA’s Worldcup 2010 Ticket Fund 120,000 free category 4 tickets will be distributed among workers participating in building the stadiums and social initiatives. Ticket prices for Cape Town matches can be found here.

U for Uniforms: Shopping for Worldcup T-shirts, hats and accessoires, soccer uniforms, jerseys and accessories of your favorite team is easy in Cape Town. There are lots of sports shops like Total Sports, Sportsmans Warehouse, Cross Trainer and many more in Cape Town’s shopping centers. Flag World, a shop on the groundfloor of Victoria Wharf shopping center even sells national flags.

V for Vuvuzela: The typical South African trumpet which is blown at the local soccer matches. The noise upset some visitors at the Confederations Cup matches but this is truly South African atmosphere, with singing, dancing and blowing the vuvuzela. By the way, "vuvuzela" means "making noise" in Zulu. More info here.

W for Women’s Soccer: Soccer is now being more popular with female soccer players too. In the schools football classes are taken over by girls as well and the junior teams are growing. The national women’s football team is called Banyana Banyana, which means "The Girls". In 2008 they came second in the Women’s African Football Championship.

X for Xhosa: Being one of the major languages spoken in Cape Town Xhosa has found its way into soccer history for 2010 surely with the popular Makaraba Hat of the South African fans. Makarabas are colourfully decorated hard hats South African soccer supporters wear at matches. The word stems from the xhosa word "makarapa" which means migrant workers, i.e. countless workers with hard hats working on the construction sites. See the great South African soccer hats here.

Y for YouTube Videos: Watch some interesting videos about Cape Town and Soccer. Check out Youtube and click on the link here.

Z for Zakumi: The official Worldcup 2010 mascot is a yellow and green fellow which also shows the colours of the National Soccer Team. He is actually a yellow leopard with green hair, so a perfect camouflage on South Africas soccer pitch;) The name is combining the abbreviation for South Africa "ZA" and "kumi" which means "10" in the different South African languages.

We are ready for the Soccer Worldcup in Cape Town

The little hiccups like strikes in the construction or transport sectors in the forerun of the South Africa Football World Cup should not be taken too seriously, Cape Town will surely offer stunning service to its visitors.

FIFA boss Sepp Blatter gave South Africa 7.5 points out of 10 for hosting the Confed Cup, and for the Worldcup we will get ten out of ten.

Everything is possible!

Pictures on this pages South Africa Football, if not otherwise stated, copyright of South Africa Tourism (1), mediaclubsouthafrica (3), soschildrensvillages.co.uk (1) and flickr (1).

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