FIFA secretary general gives SAfrica’s World Cup glowing report 2 months after final

Valcke gives SAfrica World Cup glowing report

JOHANNESBURG — FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has given South Africa’s World Cup a glowing report, two months after Spain beat the Netherlands in the final.

Following the final board meeting of the event’s organizing committee, Valcke said Thursday that South Africa had set “a new benchmark” for future World Cups. He added final figures of how much money it earned for South African soccer would be announced in November.

Valcke said FIFA was still holding its final audit of Africa’s first World Cup, but it had proved to be “a huge success.”

“That’s what we will have to achieve in 2014 at the World Cup in Brazil,” he said.