What’s With the World Cup!

With only 79 days remaining for the FIFA world cup, the fever has obviously gripped half the planet.

How can we at Namaste South Africa remain unaffected? 😉

Here’s a wonderful video based on the World Cup theme song.

I love the lines – “For the love of the game, we keep on flying.” and “No matter the outcome, we will be victorious.”

By the way, here are some interesting World Cup facts that Namaste South Africa dug up!

* The host team automatically qualifies for the World Cup. So it doesn’t have to participate in the World Cup qualifiers. However, this year’s host – South Africa is the first host team since 1934 to participate in the World Cup qualifiers!

* Zakumi is the official mascot of the World Cup. He’s a leopard with green hair. 🙂

Where does Zakumi’s name come from? ZA is the internationally used abbreviation for South Africa. And ‘kumi’ means ’10’ in different African languages. “South Africa ’10 ” is what Zakumi represents!

* The match ball for the World Cup has been named Jabuliani. Jabuliani means ‘bringing joy to everyone’ in the language of the Zulu people. Here’s a picture.

* The number 11 plays a fascinating role in this World Cup. The World Cup ball is the 11th World Cup match ball manufactured by Adidas. The ball features 11 colours. There are 11 official languages in South Africa. And the World Cup will start on the 11th day of June and end on the 11th day of July!

* This is the first time ever in history that the FIFA World Cup will be held on African soil.

Interesting, isn’t it?

Would you want to learn more about South Africa – now that the “World Cup” is being held there? Then you might like this page which lists the most amazing places to see in South Africa. 🙂

Until my next post, Totsiens! (Totsiens means Goodbye in Afrikaans).