Confederation Cup a First for South Africa

Touching down on African soil for the first time, the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup will test South Africa's state of readiness for the 2010 World Cup.

The opening ceremony on June 14 at Joburg's Coca Cola Park - broadcast to millions across the world - will be choreographed by Grammy Award winner Lebo M, the composer famous for arranging the music for the Lion King movies and stage productions, and co-producer of the Lion King production in South Africa.

It is one of the major football competitions in the world and gives an idea of how the nation that is to host the World Cup will cope with the whole affair. The dream of an African World Cup is finally a reality.

Champions Italy, Brazil, Spain and African giants Egypt will parade their galaxy of stars which makes this year's Confederation Cup unique. This is as good as it gets in football circles.

"We approach the tournament with confidence. Our stadiums are ready, our transport and security plans have been fine-tuned and more than 4 000 volunteers have been trained. We know we still have much to do but I can assure you we will not disappoint." said 2010 Local Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan at a press briefing.

Interesting facts about the Confederation Cup:

History: Originally the tournament was organized by Saudi Arabia and it was called the King Fahd Cup (or Intercontinental Championship). In 1992 and 1995 the tournament was contested by the Saudi national side and some continental champions. In 1997, FIFA took over the organization of the tournament, named it the FIFA Confederations Cup and staged the competition every two years up until 2005.

In 2005, FIFA decided to hold the tournament every four years - one year before the World Cup, in the World Cup host country - making it more or less an official dress rehearsal for the World Cup.

Vintage year: Spain, Italy, Brazil - never before have three of the top five teams in the Fifa/Coca-Cola World rankings featured in the same Confederations Cup. It's a line-up fit for the Fifa World Cup finals. There will also be cause for celebration in Johannesburg on June 18 when Egypt and Italy meet in the 100th match in the history of the Confederations Cup.

Hat trick gala: Two hat tricks in a Confed Cup final in Brazil's 6-0 win over Australia in 1997, with three goals each for Romario and Ronaldo, was unprecedented and has not happened again since.

Continents: The Confederations Cup had stops in three other regions (Asia 4, Europe 2 and North America in 1999) before coming to Africa.