It's less than two years away. It seems like only yesterday that we started this site with a petition to get as many names as possible from South Africa to support the World Cup bid. Well, in the latest step, the Local Organising Committee have announced the appointment of eight of the ten venue managers for the World Cup.

“After the Beijing Olympics, there will be only one big show on earth and that is the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Media interest in the World Cup will intensify and from an organising point of view we need to move from a centrally based headquarter to a decentralised structure. In each Host City we must begin to build a structure that will deliver this World Cup in all 10 host cities the event will take place in, with the infrastructure required to deliver in each of those cities. The appointment of the Venue Managers is therefore a first step and a very important step in that process,” said Danny Jordaan, CEO of the Local Organising Committee.

The lucky eight are Mandla “Shoes” Mazibuko (Pretoria), Veli Mahlangu (Nelspruit), Mmbulaheni Kirsten Nematandani (Polokwane) and Derek Blanckensee (Johannesburg), Teral Cullen (Cape Town), Mpho Colin Modisakeng (Rustenburg), Achileus Charalambous (Port Elizabeth) and Bongi Hlophe (Durban).

The Venue Managers will be responsible for leading and managing the venue operations in the host cities for the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 and 2010 FIFA World Cup.