Football: S Africa plans bid

(First Edition)

SOUTH AFRICA will bid to host the 2006 World Cup finals following hints from Fifa, football's world governing body, that the African continent could stage the tournament.

'There is no doubt that we will make a bid,' Solomon Morewa, the secretary-general of the South African Football Association, said yesterday, responding to comments from the Fifa secretary-general, Sepp Blatter, who last week said he foresaw an African country hosting the 2006 finals.

'We have the facilities and we are learning quickly the ways of world football,' Morewa said. South Africa was readmitted to Fifa in July after almost 30 years of isolation because of apartheid. 'We plan to bid for the 1998 African Nations' Cup finals and that will give us a good trial run.'