6 February 2014
The Confederation of African Football has commended South Africa for its hosting of the third edition of the African Nations Championship (Chan), the CEO of the local organising committee, Mvuzo Mbebe, said on Wednesday.
“We could not have asked for a better outcome than what this third edition of Chan has delivered for the continent and the world at large,” Mbebe said in a statement.
“We are also quite pleased to have been the country to present the platform for Chan to leave a lasting legacy, with Fifa granting it A-status, as well as the tournament setting a new benchmark for highest stadium attendance.”
Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Polokwane hosted Chan matches, with Libya emerging as the champions on 1 February after defeating Ghana 4-3 on penalties at Cape Town Stadium.
“When we took on the responsibility to host Chan, after the success of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), we knew that we had a daunting task ahead of us, compounded by the fact that this is a young tournament,” Mbebe said.
“We spent more time educating and creating awareness through the country about what Chan was really about and how different it was from Afcon before we could even drive football lovers to go buy tickets for the tournament.”
The tournament, which featured African national teams made up of players plying their trade in their home countries, drew 227 258 spectators, with 1 117 volunteers and 1 138 security and disaster management personnel deployed to ensure its success.
For the opening and closing ceremonies alone, Mbebe said, Chan created jobs for 185 technicians, stage hands, runners, costume designers, props producers, make-up artists and creatives.
About 300 performers from local communities, including Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Mitchells Plain, were employed, while local resources and infrastructure were also used.
Source: SANews.gov.za
