BUCARAMANGA, Colombia - Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo could finish the World Cup wearing a Colombian white gold ring as the most valuable player in South Africa. Although Colombia did not qualify for the finals, its world famous emeralds will be on show after a local jeweller acquired the rights to make 2,010 official rings for the tournament. Rings encrusted with the green gems found in the mountains of the Andean country have been sanctioned by soccer's world governing body FIFA and will be on sale in South Africa. The rings will cost from $2,500 to $250,000 each and the design features soccer balls, stadiums and the flags of the 32 participating countries in the month-long extravaganza. In a private house turned workshop in Bucaramanga, Enrique Vasquez and his colleagues in this and other mini-factories in the northern Colombian city are working hard to get all the rings made before the tournament starts on June 11. He spends his days placing tiny emeralds in the platinum, gold and silver rings that he and 269 other artisans are making for the first World Cup to be hosted in Africa. Looking through a pair of magnified glasses, he uses special tweezers to slowly place one emerald after another on a ring topped with a bulky diamondencrusted soccer ball. The mastermind of the operation is 40-year-old Carlos Sotelo, who got the idea from the rings received by teams that win the US Superbowl and basketball championships. "I wanted to make a special ring, a super ring, for FIFA," he told reporters. Colombia, rich in gold and emeralds, has a strong tradition of jewellery making. This was part of the argument he made on various trips to FIFAheadquarters in Switzerland over the last four years to convince World Cup officials to sanction his rings. He declined to say how much he paid for the rights. Although Colombia will not be at the tournament, which is held every four years, pop star Shakira is singing the official song and Juanes, another Colombian crooner, will participate in the opening concert to be staged in Johannesburg. The jewellery will include seven platinum rings to be sold for $250,000 apiece, each encrusted with 220 emeralds. Thirty three white gold rings are being made for $70,000 per piece, each with 36 emeralds and an array of South African diamonds.
