Abstract (eng)
In 2010, the FIFA Football World Cup was organized on the African continent, more precisely in South Africa, for the first time. The local political leaders did not only ex-pect economic impulses and benefits for the world of sports, but the question about nation building in a heterogeneous society was also put on the agenda. Since the end of the apartheid era in the early nineties of the 20th century and therefore the end of politically legitimate discrimination of ethnic groups, sports has served as a popular tool for the initiation of nation building and reconciliation. Examples can be found in the Rugby World Cup, hosted in 1995, which has been glorified in retrospect as a societal moment of appeasement. The paper thus deals with the necessary preconditions for achieving nation building in an ethnically divided nation. The chances, but also the risks, of such mega events were analyzed in the South African context, with the focus put on scopes like the construction of stadiums, infrastructure, (civil) society, safety and tourism. With the help of an analysis of newspaper articles covering the World Cup, the societal perception of the event and the respective opinions in the media were examined. Finally, expert interviews with members of NGOs, who participated in development projects during the Football World Cup in South Africa, were conducted. Here the question about sustainable development was foregrounded.