Order of Companions of OR Tambo in Gold
For its exceptional contribution to the development of the sport of football on the African continent, the consolidation of democracy and development in a free South Africa.
Our history has recorded the bold stand taken by FIFA at a time when the Apartheid government had many international friends and its isolation was not yet a foregone conclusion. When FIFA imposed a sports boycott against South Africa in 1976, it was one of the first world sporting bodies to distance itself from the Apartheid state and its odious policy of racial segregation in sport.
That singular action of refusal to sanctify Apartheid in sport, by such an eminent organisation, emboldened the world campaign to isolate the regime and gave the lie to the bigoted logic of Apartheid ideology.
Equally important was the effect of this action on the oppressed masses of South Africa, who, secure in the knowledge that they had international support in their struggle for justice, equality and democracy, fought ever more fervently for their own liberation.
FIFA has played a major role in the development of football in the developing world and on the African continent. Through the Goal Programme initiated by President Joseph S Blatter it has funded many projects across the continent, including South Africa, Mozambique, Lesotho and Malawi, to enable financially hard-pressed football associations to build headquarters, lay grass or artificial turf pitches, establish technical training centres, or provide other basic amenities. This decisive intervention in the interests of the development of soccer has had a major impact on the game on the continent of Africa and beyond.
FIFA has also made gigantic strides towards the ideals of gender equality in sport by initiating and supporting women's football throughout the world, including competitions such as women's world cup soccer. An active programme to empower women in football has also seen their participation in high soccer-governing administrative structures, as well the ownership of professional teams in many countries, a phenomenon absent from many other sporting codes.
For South Africa and for the African continent, the greatest accolade paid to the continent was to select an African country to host the 2010 World Cup Soccer Competition. It is a moving and fitting tribute to the contribution to the game by countless soccer legends from this continent, past and present.
In the annals of sporting history FIFA stands out as one organization which stood up for the essential spirit and ethos of sport, for the inalienable right of all - irrespective of origin, gender, class, colour or creed - to engage in sport. Its steadfast commitment to the ideal of fairness in sport helped render Apartheid unviable, and assisted decisively in undermining the Apartheid state. For that determined stand, FIFA will have high honours in our history and will forever be firmly ensconced in our collective consciousness.
