Cape Town’s hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ ended on a high note with large numbers of excited fans gathering at the FIFA Fan Fest™ on the Grand Parade and the four fan jols to watch the closing ceremony and final match of the month-long tournament.

On Sunday a total of 44,315 people visited the FIFA Fan Fest™ on the Grand Parade. Total venue capacity was reached just after 16:00 as fans gathered to watch the closing ceremony and the final match of the tournament between Spain and Netherlands. This total number of visitors is second only to the attendance on Cape Town’s semi-final match day on Tuesday 6 July, and more than the number of people who visited the FIFA Fan Fest™ on the first day of the tournament on 11 June.

An additional space for 10,000 fans was created with the erection of two large screens on the corners of Adderley and Strand and Adderley and Church Streets. These streets were closed for vehicular traffic and the two screens were arranged as the City expected Capetonians to show up in large numbers to be part of the final 2010 FIFA World Cup™ celebrations with fellow football enthusiasts. Even though the match proceeded to 30 minutes extra time and carried on until after 23:00, many people on the FIFA Fan Fest™ and in Adderley Street opted to stay to watch the trophy handover ceremony.

Despite the wet and icy cold weather on Saturday, some 4 300 people braved the cold to visit the FIFA Fan Fest™, which was open from 13:00 to 23:00 for the screening of the third place play-off between Germany and Uruguay at 20:30.

The City’s four fan jols were very well attended yesterday with a total of 23,984 people visiting the jols during the course of the day. This was the highest number of people to visit the fan jols since Bafana Bafana was knocked out of the tournament on Tuesday 22 June.

The fan jols filled up quickly from 18:00 onwards as people gathered to watch the closing ceremony. Bellville Velodrome was the first to reach capacity with 6,500 people gathered there just after 19:00.

A total of 7,852 people entered the Velodrome’s gates yesterday.

Swartklip fan jol saw the highest number of visitors for the day with 9,948 entering the gates, and reached its capacity of 5 800 just after the match started at 20:30. Oliver Tambo had a total of 3,374 visitors for the day and Vygieskraal 2,810.

The City would like to thank Capetonians for gathering in large numbers this weekend to end off the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ on a high note and in true Cape Town style and gees.