Will he attend the opening ceremony? Will he choose instead to enjoy quiet time with his family? No-one knows the answer to that yet, but one things’s for sure – Nelson Mandela’s face shone with joy as he held the 18-carat solid gold trophy in Johannesburg, South Africa today.

Photo: Nelson Mandela Foundation / AP2010

Nelson Mandela was arguably the most influential force behind bringing the international soccer event to the African continent, and the last time he held the World Cup trophy was in Switzerland in 2004, when South Africa was awarded the tournament. Six years later, and the excitement is building daily in South Africa, as the country prepares to open the prestigious World Cup, kicking off in Johannesburg and Cape Town on June 11th.

“The Beautiful Game” is a positive story all round as South Africa enjoys the impact of the World Cup; from increased tourism and retail to improved infrastructure. And there’s a sense of unity and national pride not seen at this level in South Africa since the 1995 World Cup rugby – another world-class sporting event at the center of which stood Nelson Mandela.
 
There’s no indication yet from the Nelson Mandela Foundation whether Madiba will attend the World Cup event, but as Jerome Valcke, FIFA secretary general, said today, “For us there was no way that the trophy would arrive in the country and not be brought first to Mandela”.

Viva, Bafana Bafana, Viva! Let the games begin!

Tags: Bafana Bafana, FIFA, Madiba, Mandela, Nelson Mandela, Soccer, World Cup

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 10:24 pm and is filed under Nelson Mandela, News, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.