Pretoria - In just 34 days, the world will converge in South Africa ready to support their teams. The hope and dreams of the World Cup trophy remaining on the African continent, rests on the shoulders of Bafana Bafana.
The World Cup trophy, which is now on its final leg of its world tour, was welcomed to the country by former President Nelson Mandela on Thursday.
The 36cm high trophy made of solid 18-carat gold and weighs 6kg, will make its way across the country's nine provinces and will stop at 38 cities and towns.
The trophy tour will start in Khayelitsha in the Western Cape today, and will then travel to the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State, Northern Cape, North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo before returning to Gauteng early in June before the opening match at Soccer City.
FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke and Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan, who met with the world icon, said it was a very special moment for them.
Valcke said: "Nelson Mandela was one of the architects of this FIFA World Cup, we will never forget the moment when South Africa was awarded the FIFA World Cup.
"Madiba is the symbol of this new democratic South Africa. For us there was no way that the trophy would arrive in the country and not being brought first to Mandela," he said.
Jordaan said it was quite an emotional and joyful moment to bring back the trophy to Mandela, a symbol of world football meeting with a global symbol of humanity.
The World Cup trophy tour began at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich in September last year and has already toured 83 other countries.
