Schmidt will spend seven days per month as the coordinator of FIFA’s 2010 World Cup project, using his extensive experience to serve as FIFA General Secretary Urs Linsi’s “extended arm” in South Africa and Zurich when it comes to the day-to-day management of preparations for the event.
Schmidt has spent many years as a FIFA expert in the areas of security and ticketing before most recently masterminding 2006 World Cup operations in Germany as the local organisers’ 1st vice-president.
As was the case ahead of previous World Cups and in order to bridge the physical distance between the 2010 host nation and FIFA headquarters in Zurich, the governing body has had permanent representation in South Africa since the start of 2006 and is shortly due to move into new offices that it will share with the local organising committee (SAOC). In view of the ever increasing demands of World Cup organisation, FIFA is making an increasingly intensive contribution to the process by guaranteeing the direct transfer of know-how from one host nation to the next. With this in mind, FIFA has set up a dedicated company, MATCH AG, to gather know-how in the key areas of management, accommodation, ticketing, IT and hospitality.
