The Story Behind Green Point's Unlikely Choice as Cape Town's World Cup Venue

A recent investigation reveals how FIFA encouraged the government to use Cape Town's Green Point as the site of the city's World Cup venue, despite another stadium being fit to host the event. The investigation is one chapter in the new book "Player and Referee: Conflicting interests and 2010 Fifa World Cup", which was released by the Institute for Security Studies

In the chapter by Schoonbee and Brummer, they outline how Fifa and the Local Organising Committee (LOC), "effectively Fifa's agent", pressed the City of Cape Town into signing off a last-minute decision against the preferred venue, Athlone Stadium.

South Africa's initial World Cup bid fingered Newlands Stadium as Cape Town's venue. Fifa accepted this, but the 40 000 seater would not be able to stage any games beyond a quarterfinal. Athlone, however, was the City of Cape Town's choice.

How Green Point beat Athlone for 2010 stadium
Independent Online
April 29, 2010