With just a few days to go before 14 June, I cannot hold my excitement as I am anticipating some big stars gracing our shores. Spain’s Fernando Torres, Egypt's Mohamed Aboutrika, and Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro are just a few of the big names who will be here for the FIFA Confederations Cup. I can’t wait!

I never imagined while growing up in a small village, Sihobotini in Tsomo (formerly Transkei), that one day, in my life time, we would welcome the world to South Africa for two of the biggest soccer tournaments on the planet. Not even in my wildest dreams! And now, in just a few days time, South Africa will be hosting the FIFA Confederations Cup and then the biggest showpiece in the sporting world, the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The arrival of French football icon Zinedine Zidane in April signalled the beginning of things to come, and the calibre of players who will step foot in our country. Zidane expressed his confidence in South Africa hosting two consecutive, successful tournaments, and he is not the only one: political leaders, renowned football legends including ‘African son’, Cameroonian’s Samuel Eto’o, have all expressed their confidence without any reservations - that Africans will make the upcoming World Cup a ‘special one’.

One of my main concerns, however, is the late arrival of fans to the stadiums on match day which can have adverse effects on the successful organisation of both tournaments.

The Secretary General of FIFA, Jerome Valcke, expressed his concerns when fans arrived late for the Nelson Mandela Challenge match between Bafana Bafana and Norway (even the match started late). The culture of arriving late in the stadiums, is one that we really have to move from, and this has to start at home in our own domestic league.

South African football clubs have to play their part in ensuring that fans start arriving on time at matches. One phrase that has often popped up is ‘supporters education’: clubs need to embark on a massive ‘supporters education’ drive to instil a culture where fans get to the stadiums early. They also need to create awareness on the adverse effects of how arriving late in the stadiums can effect matches.

At Chiefs we have, through the ‘Amakhosi Experience’, done our bit to help by ensuring that entertainment prior to our home games is at its best. This is one of many ways though which clubs can lure fans to arrive early for games.

Furthermore, one of the things I have experienced during my life as a fan, is a culture of buying tickets late; while at the University of the Western Cape, as a chairperson of the Kaizer Chiefs Supporters Club, one of my main responsibilities was to organise tickets for the students to attend Chiefs games in Cape Town.

What I noticed was that students will only enquire about tickets on the day of the game. Little has changed since then... you still find fans scrapping for tickets at the last minute. We need to realise that as part of a global village we cannot afford to wait until the last minute before we buy tickets.

In the same breath, fans that have gone out to purchase tickets for the upcoming Confederations Cup and the World Cup need to be commended. It was also good to hear that one of the banks purchased 50.000 tickets and corporate South Africa should follow this gesture.

Once again, I want to make a call to all my brothers, sisters and the football fraternity to go out and purchase tickets early on, and when attending matches to arrive early at the stadium.

Love & Peace!

Luthando "Trompies" Zibeko

Media Relations Officer