The World Cup kicked off on June 11, here in Africa, though in the Southern part of the continent. This particular tournament and football in general play an immeasurable role in uniting people with different ideologies in cultures, religion and political affiliations.

Friday's opening match against Mexico at Soccer City stadium is undoubtedly an important game for the Rainbow Nation and Bafana Bafana. For the first time an African team will kick off the World Cup on home ground. But the most important football game in South Africa was played in 1976 at another stadium in Soweto – Rand Stadium.

Padania completed a hat-trick of successes in the Viva World Cup for non-FIFA nations at the weekend but the latest tournament in the Maltese island of Gozo was a far lower profile affair than last year.

“Sport can unite the African continent and help establish peace” said South African President Jacob Zuma at a gala dinner celebrating Africa Day on Saturday. He believes that the entire African continent can claim ownership of the event, which should be used to ensure dialogue and co-operation among Africans.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa is seen by many stakeholders, not least the national and provincial governments, to be in the interest of nation building, patriotism and community feeling at a time when there is a renewed skepticism of government and increasingly negative feelings about the state of the nation.

The fifth world cup for ‘national’ teams that are not members of FIFA will be held in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2012 with up to a dozen teams.

A deal to ensure that Kosovan clubs are compensated properly when players sign for foreign sides should be rubber-stamped this Friday (December 4) at FIFA’s executive committee meeting in Cape Town, South Africa.

A football tournament staged by the Italian separatist party, Lega Nord, was played out with the tacit permission of the Italian sporting authorities according to the organizers.