By Lavinia Mahlangu

Zurich, March 21 (NNN-BUANEWS) In its first meeting of 2007 later this week, the Executive Committee of world football governing body, FIFA, will discuss a variety of issues including the 2010 FIFA World Cup IN South Africa.

The meeting, to be chaired by President Joseph Blatter, will take place on Thursday and Friday and will be discussing the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa in addition to other FIFA competitions.

Time is running out for national football associations who have not enrolled for the 2010 World Cup preliminary round as yet, because they had been given until mid-March to do so.

The preliminary draw is due to take place in Durban, South Africa, on Nov 23, 2007.

South Africa will host 2010 FIFA World Cup games at ten stadia in nine cities, in what is billed to be a truly African World Cup, and the best FIFA World Cup ever.

There will be five new stadia, and five existing stadia will be refurbished and upgraded for the world's most popular sport.

Three existing stadia in South Africa's major metropolis, Gauteng, will be upgraded. These are FNB stadium, Ellis Park and Loftus Versfeld.

The Royal Bafokeng stadium in North West province will be upgraded, as will the Vodacom Park in Mangaung (Bloemfontein) in Free State province.

Five new stadia will be built or rebuilt.

In Limpopo, the Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane will host 2010 games while a new stadium will be built at Mbombela in Mpumalanga, as well as in the Nelson Mandela Metro (encompassing Port Elizabeth) in Eastern Cape.

Kings Park stadium in the eThekwini Metro (encompassing Durban) will be rebuilt for the event, becoming also a multi-sports facility.

In the Western Cape, Cape Town's Green Point stadium will be rebuilt, becoming a "totally new" multi-purpose sports facility complete with a dome, which will be able to open and close as a precaution against the city's unpredictable weather.

FIFA said that the most important issues under discussion would be the upcoming World Cup as well as the 57th FIFA Congress and the final financial accounts for the 2003-2006 period.

Other topics for discussion will be sports political and legal issues and FIFA's development initiatives such as Win in Africa with Africa and Football for Hope as well as a project in India.

"As already announced, this year's FIFA Congress will be held in the Hallenstadion, Zurich, on Wednesday, 30 May and Thursday, 31 May," FIFA said in a statement.

The first day's opening ceremony will be dedicated to welcome addresses, award presentations and a programme of entertainment. The second day will deal with the items on agenda in accordance with the statutes and the election of the president.

With regard to the FIFA Statutes, the FIFA executive committee will be required to deal with various proposals for amendments and approve the Congress agenda. Furthermore, the new Home of FIFA is due to be officially opened on May 29.

Regarding the 2003-2006 financial period ended on 31 December 2006, the governing body said after closing the accounts for this period, its administration submitted them for approval to the bodies responsible for examining them.

"As the final such body before the Congress, the Executive Committee will be informed of the detailed Financial Report. The salient figures and further financial information will also be made known during the media conference held immediately after the Executive Committee."

In addition to discussions of issues at hand, FIFA's Executive will be welcoming a new member to the "football family" as the governing body often refers to its members and affiliates. Marios N. Lefkaritis of Cyprus will be taking his place on the committee for the first time as a UEFA representative.

Lefkaritis will be replacing Michel Platini, who, as the newly elected President of the European confederation, UEFA, will automatically assume the position of FIFA vice-president.