Global call goes out for 15000 volunteers for 2010 World Cup

After hosting a successful FIFA Confederations Cup 2009, the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa (OC) in Johannesburg launched the 2010 FIFA World Cup volunteer programme on Monday, 20 July 2009 to recruit 15 000 volunteers for next year's showpiece tournament. With 32 teams participating, an expected influx of 450 000 visitors and 64 matches across nine host cities in ten stadiums, the volunteers will play a vital role in assisting the OC to deliver a successful 2010 FIFA World Cup. As such, a total of 15 000 volunteers are required and will be selected from South Africa, the African continent and around the world. The OC will continue to accept applications until the closing date on 31 August 2009 and the relevant OC volunteer department will conduct interviews with the pre-selected applicants in January and February 2010. For foreign pre-selected volunteers, telephonic interviews will be conducted. The required 15 000 volunteers (with 80% coming from South Africa and the rest coming from Africa and the world) will participate in 16 functional areas of the 2010 World Cup, i.e. accreditation, marketing, media, protocol services, spectator services, transportation, administration, environmental services, welcome and information services, information technology and telecommunication, language support, rights protection programme, logistic services, hospitality and ushering services and volunteer management. Speaking about the programme the 2010 World Cup Organising Committee Chief Executive Officer, Dr Danny Jordaan, had this to say, “The volunteer programme is an excellent way to get involved in South Africa and Africa’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event. “From ushering people to their seats, to assisting the media and foreign language speakers, welcoming people at the airport and driving guests around, it is the volunteers that actually make the tournament happen.”

According to the OC, anyone who is 18 years or older on 1 March 2010 and has a good command of the English language can apply to be a volunteer. The application form is available in the FIFA website: www.FIFA.com/volunteers2010. Non-South African residents will be required to have a valid Passport and a Special Permit for being volunteers during the 2010 World Cup. For information on the programme please visit www.FIFA.com/volunteers2010, or call the relevant OC department in Johannesburg at +27 11 567 2010 or e-mail volunteerprogramme@2010oc.com