World cup 2010 news

CAF and Togo's FA have reached an agreement in relation to a dispute over the decision to exclude Togo from the next two CAF Africa Cup of Nations.

Carlo Ancelotti has warned his players there is no room for error as they approach the biggest game of the season against Wigan on Sunday.

Chelsea enter the final Premier League weekend needing only a win against a struggling Wigan to ensure they claim their first title in four years.

FIFA has outlined how it will protect its logos and sponsors during the World Cup. Basically there’s going to be a squad of “brand police” who will patrol around World Cup 2010 stadiums looking for anything that isn’t 1,000% official.

“We plan to have teams in each of the cities looking out… for brand hijackers,” said FIFA rights protection manager Mpumi Mazibuko. “We protect the brand that is FIFA,” he added.

Let’s look at this from FIFA’s perspective. They’ve sold World Cup rights to people like, say, Coca-Cola, and so it’s fair that Coca-Cola and no one else get to use the official World Cup logo on their fizzy brown drinks. All’s good. But this goes a little further. According to this story, FIFA sees its trademarks as:

“2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa”, “2010 FIFA World Cup”, ” FIFA World Cup”, “World Cup”, “World Cup 2010″, “Football World Cup”, “SA 2010″, “ZA 2010″, “South Africa 2010″, “Ke Nako — Celebrate Africa’s Humanity”, “Soccer World Cup” and “Zakumi”.

We know from FIFA’s battle with budget South African airline Kulula that they’re willing to treat any variations of those themes as hostile. If you didn’t click that link, Kulula’s “Unofficial National Carrier of the You-Know-What” advertising slogan was considered far too specific. Which is a bit worrying.

So pretty much any reference to the World Cup will result in a visit from the brand police. Anyone selling food, drinks or anything else around stadiums apparently can’t reference the reason everyone’s there in the first place, or else they’ll hear “Unauthorized logo! Swarm! Swarm! Swarm!”

OK, maybe it won’t be that dramatic. But there is a more serious point here. Companies like Coca-Cola are going to make fortunes from the World Cup. Small-time vendors are not going to put a dent in those profits. Factor in the idea that the World Cup might not be of any long term help to the South Africa economy, and the whole thing starts to feel very unfair.

Also, remember WorldCupBlog is 100% unofficial, so check no one is looking over your shoulder if you read us near a World Cup stadium.

Wigan midfielder Paul Scharner has confirmed that he expects to leave the club this season.