A lost match for German team?

On Friday, The Times reported that the Velmore Grande Hotel had not received approval from the Tshwane municipality. The hotel has reportedly invested 80 million rand (10.8 million US dollars) to meet the standard required by world football’s governing body FIFA.

The problem is the Velmore Grande Hotel, in Erasmia, Pretoria, has been booked by the German football team for the duration of the World Cup.

There are rumors that the establishment has not received certain approvals from the South African authorities, because its owner, Emi Keyser, made renovations with a construction company that would have hired workers illegally. The police and national defence force, along with the National Intelligence Agency, had also raised "safety concerns" about the hotel's location.

Despite of this unconventional situation, Germans not leaving their hotel The German football spokesperson Harald Stenger said "We have a contract with Match Hospitality, which is all that matters. It isn't necessary for us to go looking for another hotel now, because we are going to arrive on June 7, nice and ready, which is what our contract says. The rest is the concern of the officials in South Africa."

FIFA called the matter "an ongoing one" and its statement says "no indication that the team will move from the Velmore Hotel".