The cost for building five new stadiums and renovating five others is now expected to be 20% more than the original budget, but the good news is that they are all back on track and will all be ready for 2010.

South Africa's deputy Finance Minister, Jabu Moleketi said yesterday, the Government would be asking host cities to help cover the shortfall as they are struggling to cope with the unexpected increase in costs.

“The overruns can’t be a burden of the fiscus because (the) national treasury was not involved in issues such as design that have led to these cost overruns. It is only fair that they share the burden of these costs,” Moleketi said.

On one hand, you can understand him suggesting that the host cities take on some of the costs in building these stadiums, as they'll benefit from these for years to come, but it may also come as a shock to some people as the money will have to be found locally and not everyone is going to benefit from this.

“We are talking to the DBSA (Development Bank of Southern Africa) to see what packages can be made for host cities to meet some of their funding requirements,” Moleketi added.

Still, we only really care about the football. Bring on 2010.