WORLD Cup fever hit the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast on Saturday when more than 7 000 people from the region descended on Gamalakhe township in Port Shepstone for the official opening of the spanking new Ugu Sports and Leisure Centre.

The multisport facility, developed at a cost of more than R100 million, is where the Algerian national team will train for the World Cup.

The Desert Foxes chose the Ugu District Municipality as their World Cup base camp and will stay at the four-star Mondazur Hotel in the San Lameer Resort in Southbroom.

The opening of the Ugu Sports and Leisure Centre was marked with much fanfare, including entertainment by top local music stars, Zulu traditional dancers and a parade by a Scottish bagpipe band. There were also exhibition soccer matches.

Ugu mayor Sithembiso Cele and KZN Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube officially opened the new sports facility.

Excited locals, mainly from Gamalakhe, came by the bus-load for big event. Some could be seen walking in for kilometres to attend the celebration, which brought the excitement of the World Cup right to their doorstep.

They sported Bafana Bafana and Desert Foxes soccer jerseys and were wowed by the spectacle as they feverishly blared their vuvuzelas.

Cele said it was a wonderful day for the community.

He said the municipality was not only excited about hosting the Algerian national football team in the region, but also had a great new stadium facility for the people of the South Coast.

"This is an investment for the community and our region. Its location in the Gamalakhe township is important because this is a disadvantaged area and will spur both economic development and the development of sport in the area.

"It will get children of the streets and become a major node of sports, cultural and entertainment events for the region," he said.

Paul Watson, a senior manager of the project management unit at the Ugu district, said the Ugu Sports and Leisure Centre represented an investment of just over R104m and was not only for the World Cup.

"It is a legacy project that will be used by the community for years to come. It boasts two Fifa-specific soccer pitches and other related sports facilities.

"The Algerian national football team has been blown away by the standard of the pitch and facilities. They say it's without doubt the best World Cup base camp training facility in KZN and that is a huge feather in our cap," he said.

Watson said Algerian security officials had inspected both the stadium and the Mondazur Hotel last Friday and were very happy.

The team arrives at their base next week.

Michael Bertram, the CEO of South Coast Tourism, said at the weekend that it was great that the area was getting some of the World Cup action and exposure.

"The Desert Foxes are the top ranked African team in the World Cup, so we're really excited at the huge publicity that they will bring to the South Coast," he said.

"The base camp is more than 100km from Durban... so we're looking at the team using the Margate Airport to be able to get around South Africa easily for their World Cup matches.

"The Ugu district and provincial government have worked very hard to secure a team to be based here - having invested a lot of time, money and resources.

"The money spent on the high-performance Ugu Sports and Leisure Centre is an investment in the future. It will allow us to secure more events for the South Coast and increase our global profile," said Bertram.

The Mercury May 26, 2010 Edition 1

Suren Naidoo