Durban has been approved as a host city for the Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup by Danny Jordaan, the chief executive officer of the 2010 World Cup local organising committee, which is charged with preparing the country for the spectacle.
Emerging from a meeting with, among others, eThekwini City Manager Mike Sutcliffe, on , a confident Jordaan described Durban as the "mecca" of South African football.
"Most of the extremely successful international games were held here," he said, adding that one of the semifinals would be held in the city.
For hosting the semifinals, Jordaan said, Durban would need a stadium that would accommodate more than 60 000 people.
The city has already set aside R1,6-billion for the construction of what is set to be an iconic structure tentatively named the King Senzangakhona Stadium.
The meeting in Durban was for host cities that constitute the 2010 Fifa World Cup Host Cities Forum.
"It was a session to establish the institutional framework for the successful delivery of the World Cup," said Sutcliffe.
Jordaan was confident about the country's ability to deliver a world-class World Cup, saying everything for this sporting spectacle had been signed and sealed.
"We want to position it as the first World Cup in Africa," said Jordaan.
He added that the 2010 World Cup emblem would be launched in Berlin, Germany, on July 7, which would be the fastest this had been done.
Nine cities would host World Cup games in South Africa with 10 stadiums having been identified.
Five of these were already constructed with a further five to be built, said Jordaan.
He expressed confidence that the stadiums would be ready by 2009 as five of them would be needed when the country hosts the Confederations Cup.
"We have no reason not to believe the infrastructure would not be ready. We have a budget of R3,4-billion to deliver this event. The money is already available.
"This World Cup will open new markets for South Africa in terms of tourism flows," he said.
He added that people from continents that had not previously been in the country would be here.
He said the intention was also to extend the impact of the World Cup beyond the host cities by engaging other cities to become bases for visiting teams.
Jordaan said teams from the host cities would join the organising committee in Germany in July to get a feeling for organising a World Cup tournament.