Johannesburg - World Cup organising committee boss Danny Jordaan on Saturday called on the South African Football Association (SAFA) to use the millions of rands generated by the tournament to develop grass roots soccer in South Africa.
He was speaking at a press conference ahead of the World Cup final between Spain and Netherlands on Sunday.
SAFA is set to receive a windfall of between 80 and 100 million US Dollars (about R700 million) from FIFA as its profits share of the World Cup.
"South African football now has a platform to really move to greater heights and I hope SAFA will invest that money towards the development of the game," Jordaan said.
"The past month has represented South Africa with a once in a lifetime opportunity to take its opportunity to take our football to where it belongs, on top. The opportunity is here and the South African football must take it...there are a lot of expectations now and we can only wish SAFA a success during this time," he said.
South Africa is among only 15 countries that have had an opportunity to host the FIFA World Cup since its inception decades ago. History has shown that nations that have hosted the tournament had good prospects of fast growth and the development of the game.
Jordaan said while Bafana Bafana did not do as well as Korea and Germany, SAFA had a chance to use the money and experience gained from South Africa's first World Cup to nurture a strong team ahead of 2014. "The past 30 days have been amazing for South Africa and the continent and as the post tournament hangover looms, people needed to think of the ways to keep the World Cup energy going," he said.
Jordaan, who will be among a panel that will evaluate bidders for the 2018 World Cup, described the experience created by the event as a "huge psychological boost" not only for South Africa and Africa but for the world in general. "It a boost for the world because they now a have a new picture of Africa and our country and all the negative perceptions are hopefully gone," he explained.
More than five million people watched World Cup matches at Fan Fest venues set up by FIFA across the world. More than two million of that figure came from the host nation. Record TV audiences were also reported in many countries across Europe while the vuvuzela has become popular in many countries.
