Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia look set to challenge for the right to host the 2010 World Cup.The contest is confined to African countries under a new rotation system introduced by world football governing body, FIFA to give each continent an opportunity to host the biggest global single-sport event.“Unofficially, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia are bidding to stage the 2010 World Cup,” FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren told AFP from Zurich in Switzerland.However, FIFA offices closed for the new year holiday before the midnight deadline yesterday and will not reopen until Monday, when an official statement listing the candidates is expected.Countries have until April 30 to confirm their intention to host the 32-team tournament, and those still in the race must present their bid documents by the end of August.A FIFA inspection team will visit each potential host before reporting in April 2004 to the 24-man executive committee led by president Sepp Blatter. It will elect the winner by ballot one month later.South Africa came close to securing the 2006 finals, losing 12-11 to Germany in the final round after oceania representative Charles Dempsey from New Zealand stirred a storm by abstaining from the crucial final vote.The Dempsey debacle led FIFA to rethink a policy that has seen Europe host every alternate World Cup since 1958 and last July the world body decided that an African country or countries must follow Germany.South Africa start as favourites after coming so close in the 2006 race despite the refusal of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to back a single African candidate.Although unsuccessful twice before, Morocco also entered the bid battle only to be eliminated in the early rounds, having secured little support outside of Africa and the Middle East.FIFA has sent out mixed signals about joint bids after the successful but expensive co-hosting of the 2002 finals by Japan and South Korea, who became the first Asian nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals.The biggest threat to South Africa could lie in a joint bid with Tunisia hinting they might team up with Morocco, who face a massive stadium construction programme with just two of international standard.Egypt face a similar challenge despite boasting the 100,000-seat Cairo stadium, the biggest in Africa, as do Libya, while Tunisia are better placed but some ground capacities would have to be increased.The North African nations score over South Africa in passion for the game. About 5,000 spectators turned up for the first leg of the 2001 Champions League final in Pretoria while 100,000 witnessed the return match in Cairo.
