Soccer: Disaster may not stop South Africa hosting World Cup

The worst disaster in South African sporting history will not necessarily affect the country's chances of hosting the 2010 World Cup.

Fifa director of communications Keith Cooper admitted "serious lessons" had to be learned from the tragedy after 47 fans were killed in a stampede at Ellis Park, Johannesburg.

But Cooper said: "I don't think we should rush to condemn South Africa just because it's South Africa."

In controversial circumstances last year the Rainbow Nation narrowly lost out on securing the 2006 World Cup when winners Germany edged them out by one vote.

Cooper said that because of Fifa's decision to rotate the World Cup on a continental basis - more than likely starting in 2010 with Africa - the bidding process would begin much sooner than would normally be expected.

"Fifa made the decision that the World Cup would first go to the continent of Africa - not necessarily South Africa - but we are along way away from deciding this.

"This is a tragedy of considerable proportions, four dozen people have been killed and it's being taken extremely seriously, but as far as 2010 is concerned it is still along time away.

"There are lessons to be learned and hopefully we can put it right, just as was the case in England after the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy.

"Clearly it could not have come at a worse time, but these things never come at a good time and unfortunately they happen in many countries.

"We've got to be careful. We have no official information of the incident, but obviously something very bad went wrong."