SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - WORLD CUP 2010 - FIFA welcome Nigeria's climb down

Record ID: 452708

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - WORLD CUP 2010 - FIFA welcome Nigeria's climb down
  • Date: 7th July 2010
  • Summary: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (JULY 6, 2010) (REUTERS) FIFA SPOKESMAN NICOLAS MAINGOT AND ORGANISING COMMITTEE MEDIA MANAGER JERMAINE CRAIG SITTING IN NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) NICOLAS MAINGOT, FIFA SPOKESMAN, SAYING "Basically what has happened is that they have withdrawn the decision to withdraw precisely all the national teams from playing in the CAF and FIFA competitions for the next two years and this is what we were asking. So that's why they are conserving all their statutory rights, but of course as usual in such cases we will monitor the situation and we will continue to monitor the situation much closely." JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NICOLAS MAINGOT, FIFA SPOKESMAN, SAYING "What I know is that between all games, of course, the pitches in all stadiums are taken care of, I know that they are worn, I can't tell you the technical term for that, but they are definitely taken care of so that we can play on the best possible surface. What I would like to add is that we have not received any complaints from the teams on the quality of the pitches, on top of that as you know we have cancelled a number of training sessions during the tournament so that precisely the pitch can be in the best possible condition, it's a very usual preventative measure which we do very regularly at FIFA competitions. At the time we speak, we are not aware of any particular concern or worry for the state of the pitch for Sunday's final." JOURNALIST LISTENING MAINGOT LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 22nd July 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA6MU4DRRVJDINSOYWGMULWD10U
  • Story Text: FIFA will watch for any further signs of political interference in Nigerian soccer after a dispute with the government almost led to the suspension of the local football federation, it said on Tuesday (July 6).
    Soccer's ruling body on Monday (July 5) lifted a threat to suspend Nigeria from all FIFA-related activities, including an annual grant of $250,000, after President Goodluck Jonathan reversed a ban on the national team participating in international competitions as punishment for its poor World Cup performance.
    The president's decision, which narrowly beat a FIFA deadline, came after the federation pledged to disband the side and rebuild it following the Super Eagles' failure to win a game during their first round elimination from the World Cup.
    FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot told a news briefing in Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday that Nigeria had done what was required to have the suspension threat lifted.
    "Basically what has happened is that they have withdrawn the decision to withdraw precisely all the national teams from playing in the CAF and FIFA competitions for the next two years and this is what we were asking. So that's why they are conserving all their statutory rights, but of course as usual in such cases we will monitor the situation and we will continue to monitor the situation much closely," he said.
    FIFA and the organising committee are now working to ensure the first tournament staged on the African continent comes to a good finish with only four matches left to play.
    Questions have been raised on the state of pitches at the World Cup, especially the playing surface of the Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium that will host the third-place play-off on Saturday (July 10).
    Maingot said no team had complained so far about pitch conditions and groundsmen across the country were working hard to ensure teams have the best possible surface to play on.
    "What I know is that between all games of course the pitches in all stadiums are taken care of, I know that they are worn, I can't tell you the technical term for that, but they are definitely taken care of so that we can play on the best possible surface," he said.
    "What I would like to add is that we have not received any complaints from the teams on the quality of the pitches, on top of that as you know we have cancelled a number of training sessions during the tournament so that precisely the pitch can be in the best possible condition, it's a very usual preventative measure which we do very regularly at FIFA competitions. At the time we speak, we are not aware of any particular concern or worry for the state of the pitch for Sunday's final," Maingot added.
    The Netherlands face Uruguay in the first semi-final to be played later on Tuesday in Cape Town, with the winner set to face the victor of Wednesday's (July 7) semi-final between three-times champions Germany and Spain.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register