Just hours after the closing ceremony of the 2009 Confederations Cup, there was an aura of positive spirits regarding the professionalism with which the event was carried out in South Africa over the past few weeks.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter awarded the host nation a 7.5 rating out of 10 for successfully hosting the Confed Cup in a number of areas, while adding that he would like to see that figure rise to 100% efficiency when the time comes to again open up the stadiums for the 2010 World Cup.

One particular area of concern prior to the event was that security would not be up to scratch; a matter that was backed by negative publicity pointing to the nation’s high crime rate. Yet, under the direction of Local Organizing Committee CEO Danny Jordaan, this important requirement for a smooth tournament was fulfilled, and was largely problem-free.

Perhaps the most spoken-about cases relating to crime were the hotel thefts which affected both the Egyptian and Brazilian teams, who experienced the thievery of some valuables and money that was taken from their rooms. Apart from these robbery cases, the only other crimes that were reported were about a couple of muggings that occurred in the vicinity of the stadiums.

The South African government spent a decent R1.2-billion to implement adequate security measures, illustrating their serious approach to keeping match attendees safe. In the same breath, 800 additional police officers were deployed to bolster security throughout the two-week period, which proved to successfully prevent any serious crime-related incidents from taking place.

South Africa was also praised for its outstanding hospitality and the way in which the locals received the visiting football teams and fans with open arms. The only problem highlighted by Jordaan in terms of organization amongst fans was that their late arrival to the stadiums needed to be better managed, in order to ensure that games can commence without the interruption of attendees searching for their seats.

The overall FIFA feedback came with mixed messages: while the country was commended on its performance as the host, it also received a response about critical issues that need to be attended to ahead of the 2010 World Cup – the most crucial of these were transport and accommodation.

One of the main reasons that fans had been arriving late for the games was precisely due to insufficient transport services that found it difficult to manage the thousands of fans that needed to get to and from stadiums. The plans for a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system are currently underway but are slightly behind in terms of planning and implementation schedules. If government goals are reached in this regard, the transport matter will be less of a concern as the safety and timely arrival of attendees will be significantly improved.

Linking to the ability of South African host cities to accommodate the looming masses, is the issue of hotels and other forms of lodging that would be required to house visitors. Reflecting on the Confed Cup, Blatter remarked that the current lodging was not adequate and that more rooms would need to be opened up to cater to the masses.

While the unanimous thumbs-up from event organizers and FIFA officials gives hope for the pending World Cup, it is evident that South Africa needs to implement a number of corrective measures before the 450 000 expected fans can be welcomed to its shores next year. Nonetheless, the coordinators of this football tournament have done much better than expected and have set the bar at a high standard for the 2010 World Cup.