The most one-sided match of the World Cup tournament is expected to be Brazil vs. North Korea on June 15th, with the chance of North Korea winning just 3.7%. In the 1966 FIFA World Cup, North Korea made it to the quarter finals. Brazil was eliminated in the first round. (The Eighty20 Predictor, Wikipedia)

This week’s theme: South Africa and the World Cup

Organising costs of the previous two world cups in Korea-Japan and Germany were approximately US$7 billion and US$7.7 billion respectively. South Africa’s organising costs are estimated to be US$3.7 billion. (www.f2010.com)

This week’s theme: South Africa and the World Cup

Bookies predict that South Africa has a 31% chance of beating Mexico in the kick-off game to the World Cup on June 11, and a 30% chance of beating Uruguay five days later. (The Eighty20 Predictor)

This week’s theme: South Africa and the World Cup

According to the bookies, the odds of South Africa winning the World Cup are 1 in 150 (0.7%), which is better than 13 other nations represented in the finals. (The Eighty20 Predictor)

This week’s theme: South Africa and the World Cup

The number of farms in active production fell by 12.7% to fewer than 40,000 in the five years to 2007. (www.busrep.co.za)

This week’s theme: Farmers and farm workers

There are more than 1,000 growers of tobacco in South Africa, producing some 34 million kilograms every year on about 24,000ha of land. (www.southafrica.info)

This week’s theme: Farmers and farm workers

There are almost 630,000 workers in the agricultural sector in South Africa. Around 13% have had no schooling while a further 36% have a Grade 7 (Standard 5) or lower. (LFS 2009 Q4)

This week’s theme: Farmers and farm workers

On 1 March 2010, the minimum wage for farm workers in South Africa increased by 6.9% to R1316.69 per month, or R6.74 per hour. (www.labournet.com)

This week’s theme: Farmers and farm workers

MTN’s South African subscriber base was 16.1 million at the end of 2009. MTN, an official World Cup sponsor, has bought exclusive rights to network coverage within a 800 metre radius around each stadium during the World Cup. Subscribers to other cell phone networks will not be able to make or receive calls within this exclusion zone. (MTN Group Press Release March 2010, TUWC News)

This week’s theme: FIFA and consumers

PS: This was our April Fools joke. As you can see from the comments on this post, not everyone found it funny, though it was largely well received.