By Lindsey Kin

On Thursday, 25 March, media; celebrities; and football stars alike came together to select the McDonald’s Player Escorts for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The draw was held at Coca-Cola Park in Johannesburg where all were in high spirits to find out who the lucky few would be, who will have the once in a lifetime chance to walk on field hand-in-hand with their soccer heroes. From the amount of entries received countrywide, it was plain to see that a great deal of anticipation and excitement has led up to the draw.

Managing Director, Greg Solomon, commenced the player escort draw. “McDonald’s has supported football at a grassroots level for more than 30 years and we have been a partner and a sponsor for the FIFA World Cup since 1994. Today, we are here to celebrate the success of those kids who will be drawn as player escorts for the 2010 [FIFA] World Cup in South Africa,” said Solomon, adding that the player escort program fits like a glove with McDonalds’ values and principles, which are all about commitment to promote a balanced, active lifestyle and children’s well-being, coupled with fun and laughter.

The program is led by two important role models: Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana superstar, Teko Modise; and former Bafana Bafana midfielder and soccer legend, John ‘Shoes’ Moshoeu. Over a course of two months, McDonald’s recruited and encouraged young football fans to fill out application forms at McDonald’s restaurants. The program provided 1 408 children between the ages of six and 10 from around the world with the opportunity to walk on field hand-in-hand with their soccer heroes. Approximately 1 200 of these will be South African children, with the rest from around the world. The selected kids will be hosted by McDonald’s for this once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to the FIFA World Cup matches in June, accompanied by a parent or guardian.

The entry forms were collected from all participating McDonald’s restaurants across the country, and transported to the venue in sealed envelopes and containers. Once entries had been drawn, a verification process followed over the course of the remainder of the afternoon, where the winning entries by host cities were compared with the competition rules and verified for fairness. Once all the information on the winning entries had been verified, the winners were advised that they had been selected as player escorts.

Kani Khumalo was drawn from the Johannesburg entry box by Dr Danny Jordaan. Khumalo was the first player escort in the world for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

“McDonald’s welcomes the world to this wonderful country of South Africa, and to the lucky player escort kids, you are the future, be inspired, find your hero, and make your dream come true,” concluded TV personality, Robert Marawa.