The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th FIFA World Cup, an international tournament for football. It will be the first time that the tournament has been hosted by a nation in the Confederation of African Football, leaving the Oceania Football Confederation as the only FIFA Confederation never to have hosted the event.

South Africa is committed to integrating environmental principles into the planning and organization of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. This follows a similar commitment of the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Germany, which resulted in the sensitization of the local and international football community to ecological issues and the securing of a long-term foundation for environmental concerns in national and international football. To this end the FIFA Local Organizing Committee has set up an Environmental Forum to plan, co-ordinate and monitor national Greening 2010 activities related to the stadia, fan parks, training grounds, accommodation facilities and the networks and amenities that service and connect them. The Environmental Forum brings together representatives from the 2010 FIFA LOC, national and provincial government departments, the nine host cities, and United Nations agencies, amongst others. 2010 FIFA World Cup will be held between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa and it will be the 19th FIFA World Cup, the first tournament to be hosted by a nation in Africa.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be staged at 10 venues across nine South African cities Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Bloemfontein, Rustenburg and Pretoria. Johannesburg will be home to two World Cup stadiums – Soccer City and Ellis Park.

The 2010 Soccer World Cup presents an opportunity to enhance environmental sustainability for South Africa and its citizens. The aim is to reinforce the significance of environmentally responsible lifestyles within the context of the 2010 Soccer World Cup and the country’s economic and social development programmes.

The people

The South African population totals over 47 million, comprising a melting-pot of people: the Nguni (consisting of the Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swazi people); the Sotho-Tswana, who include the Southern, Northern and Western Sotho (Tswana people); the Tsonga; Venda; Afrikaners; English; coloureds; Indians; and those who have immigrated to South Africa from the rest of Africa, Europe and Asia. Small communities Khoi and San also live in South Africa.

The Land

There are nine provinces in South Africa - Gauteng, Mpumlanga, Limpopo, North West, Free State, Northern Cape, Eastern and Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Each province has its own legislature, premier and executive council.

In building a free South Africa since 1994, Government has been committed to creating a better life for all its people. Much progress has been made in redressing the social inequalities brought about by apartheid. Millions of lives have been changed through Government's service-delivery programmes in healthcare, social services, housing, education and broadening access to basic services such as water and electricity. In the period 1994 to 2005, more than 1 300 clinics were built or upgraded, over 64 000 classrooms provided and approximately 3,5 million homes connected to electricity. The safety and security of citizens has also been improved by reducing the incidence of serious crime. Much more needs to be done and Government is committed to achieving its election mandate of halving poverty and unemployment by 2014 as well as achieving the millennium development goals.

The country has also strengthened its relations with Africa and plays an active role in the development of the continent. South Africa is a dynamic force within the 14-member Southern African Development Community, and plays a significant role in supplying energy, relief aid during national disasters, transport, communications and outward investment. It has also been a key player in the development of the New Partnership for Africa's Development, a programme which sees Africa's leaders plotting a course of economic growth and poverty eradication.

South Africa is often called the Cradle of Humankind, for this is where archaeologists discovered 2,5-million-year-old fossils of our earliest ancestors, as well as the 100 000-year-old remains of modern man. The unique enchantment of the country derives from such deep legacies encoded in its history and also by moments of monumental change and strides of dynamic progress brought about by a people united in diversity - a winning nation committed to building a better South Africa and a better world.