Summary: It is unlikely that an African team will win the World Cup, particularly the tournament’s hosts, South Africa. Their national team, the Bafana Bafana (the boys, the boys) failed to qualify for the 2006 event, missed out on this year’s Africa Cup of Nations and are ranked as low as 90th in the world – ahead of only one other team in the competition: North Korea. Bookies are offering 50/1 odds on an Ivory Coast victory, and 150/1 on South Africa. Indeed, no African country has ever reached a World Cup semi-final, even though Brazilian footballing hero Pele famously predicted that one would win the tournament by 2000. But such international sporting jamborees are never just about the games themselves. They are a chance for nations – and even continents – to host the world, attract tourism and investment, and generate national pride. The flip side is that they are also a chance for the hosts to bankrupt themselves, pursuing dreams of sporting grandeur which cost billions but bring little public benefit – a risk that South Africa, with its impoverished population, can ill afford. In the long run, when the flags, trumpets and face-paint are packed away, will Africa have lost out by hosting this World Cup
