Archive for November, 2009

Football Tours – The Best Kept Secret

Friday, November 27th, 2009

The 2010 World Cup tournament will take place in South Africa and promises to be the best ever. People are busily working around the clock to get their tickets and accommodation booked. In this article we are going to cover various topics around football tours, and hope to stir up in you, a sense of excitement, which is shared by billions of people around the world. Not many people are aware of how good a football tour can be, so we try to make you understand why it should be your next holiday.

Modern day football was formulated in 1863 in England, and as such the Football Association created the cornerstones for how the game must be played today. It has become the worlds best game.The sport is governed by an international body namely: Federation of International Association of Football or FIFA, as it is commonly known as. The most sought after competitions being the FIFA World Cup hosted by different countries on a four yearly basis, other popular tournaments include the UEFA champions league and the FA Cup.

If you are wanting to join a group on a soccer tour, then you need to do some homework first. Make sure you choose a company who has good experience in this field. Look at what sort of packages they can offer you, whether they are tours to various tournaments around the world or something more bespoke like university football tours.Items like accommodation, excursions and transport are the three most fundamental things to be discussed. Get a few quotations from different tour operators to see if you are not over charged dramatically.

Whether you’re a hard core fan, play soccer yourself, or coach others, you should consider going on tour, it could be just the answer for your next vacation. Take the family along and make it the most memorable ever.

 

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Tips on finding great World Cup Packages

Friday, November 27th, 2009

The soccer World Cup is coming in June 2010, this time it is in South Africa and there are many companies offering various world cup packages. Right now you might be looking into many different package options and no matter what you are interested in you should watch for some important things in them. Here are a few things to find in a good World Cup package.

First you should watch for the air travel that is being used. There will be packages that include different classes for travel, whether thats coach, business or first class. Your cost for this part will vary according to how far you have to travel. There are many airlines flying to South Africa, that include Emirates, Etihad Airways, South African Airways, Virgin and British Airways.

The next important part of the package is the accommodation. These will range from 3 star to 5 start hotels, to guest houses and apartments. You can also find hotels with hospitality areas. In these areas you can get free travel services and some will offer food and drink. You will not be able to get your hotel switched during your trip in most instances.

How close your accommodation to a match venue will be important. You will have to watch for the location of your hotel especially if it is in Johannesburg. There are many matches in Johannesburg including the Final at the Soccer City Stadium. It also helps to check on venues in cities like Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria. No matter what city your package takes you to you should check on where your hotel is and ensure there is adequate security provided.

You may even be offered side trips in your World Cup package. These short excursions will give you the chance to experience all that South Africa has to offer. You can get a safari trip or a trip to Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls. Ensure you read the terms and conditions to see what is included in the different packages.

The tickets are the last part of the package to check out. You can get tickets for many games in a plan. The levels of games in the package, including Group Match and Final events, should be checked on. In many cases a package provider can offer tickets for all matches involving a specific country. Travel locations and dates will be different according to the country you follow.

Be sure to watch for the many factors involved when looking at the many world cup packages available. It helps to take a look into the air travel, hotel and tickets. Any additional travel services should also be watched for.

 

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2010 World Cup Package For Soccer Fans In South Africa

Friday, November 27th, 2009

South Africa is the host for the 2010 Football World Cup from June 11 to July 11. Millions of football fans around the world will be glued to their television screens to watch the matches. There are world cup packages available for the lucky ones who can afford it by selected tour operators.

For the football fanatic there are world cup packages available that allow you to watch your team for the duration of the world cup travelling across South Africa. On the other hand if you simply fancy taking in a game or two whilst enjoying the holiday of a lifetime in South Africa there are packages available for this too.

Johannesburg and the surrounding cities will host most of the World Cup matches with two of the ten world cup stadiums being at Johannesburg itself and four other stadiums within driving distance. Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Rustenburg and Pretoria will host the remaining games.

For the football games in Johannesburg, Rustenburg, Pretoria and Nelspruit you are recommended to secure accommodation in Johannesburg and fly directly there. These locations are all in northern South Africa within a few hours’ drive of one another. About five hours away is Polokwane which is one of the safest areas in South Africa.

Bloemfontein is right in the centre of South Africa and is host to a few football games in its Free State Stadium. It is the judicial capital of South Africa and is a smallish-sized city.

Other games will be played in the cultural city of Durban which has lovely beaches and a busy nightlife. A potentially great place to mix your holiday with some football.

Cape Town will also host several world cup games. It is located on the southern edge of South Africa and is overlooked by the famous Table Mountain. It is good option for those flying to South Africa from Europe.

Port Elizabeth is placed between Durban and Cape Town on the southern coast. To stay there throughout the world cup you will have to book a domestic flight from Johannesburg or Cape Town.

FIFA have selected tour operators worldwide who are entitled to sell packages with valid 2010 tickets. 350,000 match tickets have been made available by FIFA to them. These companies have accommodation and flights (both international and domestic) available for a wide variety of different world cup packages to cater to all demands and budgets.

Nobody as yet knows what teams will be playing at what location until the December 4, 2009 draw but bookings for the world cup packages are already fully available from the selected tour operators. The order of games has been fixed but where and at what time exactly matches will take place is not known.

If you world cup packages in a specific country, for example through an English tour operator you will be assured of an England match ticket as these tickets have been guaranteed (including several semi-final and final tickets).

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The World Cup 2010 draw is around the corner

Friday, November 27th, 2009

The draw for the Fifa 2010 World Cup takes place on the 4th December in Cape Town, South Africa. All the teams that have qualified for the world cup will find out where they will play their group matches following this draw. There are a total of 32 teams competing for the greatest prize in football , made up of countries from Europe, North America, Central America, Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Africa, Asia and of course the hosts South Africa.

Thousands of fans are expected to make the trip to South Africa to follow their country, with many world cup packages from different companies on offer, getting tickets and accommodation should not be problem. A lot of people have already secured their place at the World Cup after seeing their country qualify for the tournament, however they don’t know where in South Africa they will be travelling to yet. They will have mainly booked to stay in either Cape Town or Johannesburg and then travel to the various matches by taxi, coach or by air.

There is expected to be a large number of people searching for and booking world cup packages once the draw takes place on the 4th December, this way they will be able to be sure about how much travelling is required to follow their country and the costs that go with it. It can work out quite expensive to have to get internal flights to different venues around the country. A lot of companies are providing all inclusive packages that include all transfers within South Africa.

The draw doesn’t really affect people that just want to experience some world cup action seeing different countries from around the world. There are many options available for fans like this to stay in one of the cities and watch the games at that particular stadium, for instance you can book to stay in Cape Town and watch some of the group stage or knockout matches at the Green Point Stadium.

December 4th is not that far away now for those that want to follow their country, so make sure once the draw takes place you don’t leave it too long to book your place at the world cup as tickets will sell out fast.  Check out the companies offering world cup packages and pick the one that suits you best.

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The 32 teams for the World Cup have made it

Friday, November 27th, 2009

Its official, we now know the 32 teams that will be competing for the greatest prize in football, the Fifa World Cup and there are many different world cup packages on offer to help get fans to see all the action. The countries that have qualified for next year’s tournament are as follows:

Australia,  Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana,  Nigeria, Honduras, Mexico, United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, New Zealand, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and last but not least the hosts South Africa.

Now that we know which countries will be there, make sure you don’t miss out on being there too. With many good world cup packages available, getting there shouldn’t be that difficult.

Qualifying for this tournament wasn’t that difficult for some countries either, for instance in Europe, Spain qualified comfortably winning all of their matches, beating the likes of Turkey and Belgium along the way. The Netherlands also made it through without any defeats, winning all 8 of their matches, their group included Norway and Scotland. The world champions Italy qualified safely but had to settle for three draws, twice with the Republic of Ireland and once with Bulgaria. England also made it through easily with 9 wins and one draw.

It was a different story for Portugal and France, who both had to go through an extra qualifying stage with knockout matches against Bosnia and the Republic of Ireland. France overcome Ireland with a late winner in extra time, this game will be remembered for the highly controversial hand ball by Henry which resulted in the goal that won the game. Portugal beat Bosnia 1-0 home and away to qualify for the world cup.

In South America, as expected, Brazil topped the group with 9 wins and 2 defeats. Chile, Paraguay and Argentina joined them with automatic qualification, whilst Uruguay had to see it out against Costa Rica in a play-off stage. Uruguay won the 2 stage match 2-1 on aggregate. This group will be remembered for how close Argentina came to not qualifying, an 84th minute goal from Bolatti helped them to reach the finals in the end.

There are many companies offering fans the opportunity to see more of these battles in South Africa, with various world cup packages to suit you, whether that is following your country throughout the tournament or just watching the group stage matches in Johannesburg or Cape Town. Out of the 32 teams competing, who will be the best country at the 2010 World Cup?

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