Sepp Blatter hopes

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has spelled out his desire to see the World Cup leave a long-lasting social legacy in South Africa."Just being in South Africa has already made me very happy," Blatter said.So in some ways the Africa dream will already have come true when the World Cup trophy is handed over to the winners in Johannesburg.But what is more important is the activities we are carrying out for football development under our 'Win in Africa with Africa' initiative or for social development with our various Football for Hope programmes and centres.Blatter, in an interview with Fifa World, the official magazine of football's world governing body, continued: "Just bringing boys and girls together, organising schooling and health education, proving the tools and the incentive to fight against poverty and disease - that is the legacy we want to leave. Blatter said,"I have never said that Fifa or even football in general can eradicate poverty or cure terrible diseases but our sport can certainly play a significant part in how those problems are tackled."Blatter admitted that staging the World Cup in Africa would be the realisation of a long-standing ambition. "It has been important to me since the day in February 1976 when I first visited Addis Ababa to start work on one of Fifa's first development courses," he said."I had been working at Fifa as a development officer for just a year and that visit really opened my eyes to what football really is about and what it means to Africa.
"I fell in love with Africa that day and of course I promised myself that I would come back one day. Of course my work took me back many times after that and I became convinced that the football world had to give something back to this continent which has already provided so many talented players for the leagues in wealthier countries.