Germany and South Africa, by a football pitch. Germany had been quietly working Fifa conferences, highlighting its impressive sporting facilities and the ability to handle the thousands of football fans who will arrive should the country host the 2006 tournament. South Africa's bid was spearheaded by former president Nelson Mandela and its emotional appeal centred around crowning the country's rise from political pariah during the apartheid years to African model of post-colonial success. Its hand was thought to be strengthened by the fact that Africa has never hosted the competition - whereas Germany had the World Cup in 1974. This failed to swing it with the judges, however.
Many countries think so.
Many of the smaller nations who had a vote were supporting South Africa - including Mali, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina and Paraguay. South Africa in return said they would support moves in Fifa that would help boost these countries' soccer industries. Back in 1974, the World Cup was very much a trial of strength between Europe with nine teams and South America with four. The ripples created by political upheavals, particularly in Africa where many former colonies had been granted independence, were beginning to be noticed on the international sports scene. For the 1982 World Cup in Spain, political pressure on Fifa increased the table of competitors to twenty-four teams.