South Africans grasp high hopes for home team at 2010 FIFA World Cup

Footy fever has well & truly taken grasp of South Africa, with public opinion towards the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ overwhelmingly positive & optimism surrounding the national team’s chances remarkably robust, according to latest bazaar research conducted on FIFA’s behalf in May. The findings from the fifth installment of a six-wave survey reinforce a strapping sense of pride in South Africa hosting football’s showcase event (92 per-cent), a firm belief it will be a success (86 per-cent), as well as an enthusiastic anticipation for the competition to start (86 per-cent).

Asked to name whom they are going to be rooting for in the work of the competition, unsurprisingly 63 per-cent responded “South Africa”, followed by Brazil (11 per-cent) & England (4 per-cent). Strong optimism in the countrywide side, Bafana Bafana, is reflected in respondents’ answer to who they think will win the trophy: five-times world champions Brazil (37 per-cent) were cited as favourites, followed in second place by South Africa (13 per-cent) & France (8 per-cent). 13 per-cent see South Africa reaching the final, while 22 per-cent think their nation won't make it past the group stage.

The player the majority are looking forward to seeing in action is Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (17 per-cent), followed by Argentina’s Lionel Messi (12 per-cent) & Brazil’s Kaká (10 per-cent). Indeed, South Africans are keen to follow the 2010 FIFA World Cup, either live in the stadium or on TV: 38 per-cent plan to watch as plenty of matches as feasible, while 29 per-cent even intend to watch all games irrespective of the countries involved. In a clear indication that South Africans’ interest is not limited to their own national team, a mere 3 per-cent of respondents said they would only watch matches when South Africa played.

Similar to the earlier waves, all of respondents maintain high expectations in terms of the potential long-term benefits of hosting the FIFA World Cup, both tangible & intangible: 89 per-cent think it will leave an enduring legacy & be recalled fondly over generations, 80 per-cent feel it will unite the people of South Africa, while 93 per-cent think the images of the country beamed out across the world will lure more tourists in future. watch now