Soccer City, Johannesburg

One of the most artistic and awe-inspiring football venues on the African continent, the newly-reconstructed Soccer City Stadium will host the first and final matches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.

Shown here under construction in 2009, it is located in Johannesburg's southwest, only a short distance from one of the country's football-crazy townships, Soweto, where about 40 per cent of Johannesburg's population live.

WIth a long history, Soccer City hosted the first mass rally of Nelson Mandela after his release from prison in 1990. Thousands of mourners lamented Chris Hani's assassination at the stadium in 1993. It was also the venue for the 1996 CAF African Cup of Nations final, with South Africa eventually triumphing 2-0 over Tunisia.

PHOTO SOURCE: South Africa Government Communication, 2010 Unit, used with permission.

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