The 2006 FIFA World Cup is a mega event. Billions of euros are at stake. The event will be watched by millions of people all over the world. Being such a high profile event it throws a myriad of risks. Right from the world cup soccer trophy made of solid 18 carat gold to an incident such as a carelessly installed flood light falling and injuring a player, has to be insured. The risks involved could be disruption, cancelation, theft of the cup, personal accident to the ticket holder, liability, bad weather, infrastructure breakdown, hooliganism, threat of terrorism, etc. The article deals with the various risks and the steps taken by FIFA and the host country to insure these risks.
Football at one time was just a passion of Europe's industrial working class. Today, its craze has spread all over the world and the game has become an expression of a true global community. The play has become hotter over the years involving not merely elbows, toes, knees, shoves, kicks, hard landings but also skillful and pleasing to the eye passes, over the head scissor kicks, nimble foot work and deft little turns.
On July 9, 2006 the day of the finals about one in every five persons on this earth will be glued to their television set. The viewers would be as diverse as rich and poor, African and Asian, Islamic and Christian, black and white and every other possible human mix-as noted by the Time magazine.
This article is not about the pleasures of this spectator sport. It is more about the world's greatest sporting event from the perspective of risks involved and the steps being taken by the organizers to manage them.A man of many words, Winston Churchill once noted that "If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time-a tremendous whack."
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