"Fifa advises that a smaller number such as eight would make the event more profitable," Sport and Recreation South Africa's (SRSA) chief, Denver Hendricks, told the portfolio committee on sport and recreation.

But he warned if the number of stadiums used was cut, it would negatively affect job creation projections.

Many smaller municipalities relying on the expected revenue and infrastructure would also be let down.

The building of new and the upgrading of existing stadiums (13 as outlined in the Bid Book) would cost the country R1,626-billion.

"Should only nine or 10 stadiums be prepared, however, there will be a substantial saving on this amount," he said.

He said the deadline for South Africa to provide Fifa with the list of stadiums used in the Soccer World Cup was January 15 2007, but if South Africa wanted to use "labour intensive methods to build the stadiums", a decision would have to be made much sooner.

Reporting on progress made for World Cup preparations, Hendricks described the relationship between Fifa and SRSA as filled with "healthy tension".

"The World Cup is Fifa's cash cow and so they want to maximise profits to carry them over the four years until the next World Cup. They make it very clear it's not a South African World Cup but a Fifa World Cup with South Africa only the platform."

He said Fifa reserved the right at anytime to take it away if South Africa did not conform to its demands.

He said Fifa's profit maximisation policy was in conflict with South Africa's drive to create employment and spread wealth.

Committee members then asked if South Africans would be able to afford too watch the games in their own country.

Hendricks said Fifa - in line with their profit policy - pegged ticket prices. He said because only a third of the tickets would be made available to South Africa, prices would be at a premium.

"It would be up to us to put schemes in place to make sure people from our country were able to watch the matches," he said.

But he added, soccer bodies too had a responsibility of improving the nation's squad in order for it to effectively represent the country.

He said Bafana Bafana's performance of late was not good and to ask them to get to the final of a World Cup was a "tall order".

But he warned if they fell out in the first round, history showed, the country would lose interest in the event.

"If South Africa loses in the first round the people lose out. Rugby and cricket are minor events when it comes to soccer. We cannot afford people to lose interest because our teams lose in the first round," he said.

He said Fifa has also asked South Africa not to promote the 2010 World Cup yet as it threatened to overshadow the 2006 event in Germany.

"There is already enormous interest in our world cup, especially from sponsors and investors, so we have been asked to tone it down until after next year's event," he said.

Source: IOL