FIFA President Sepp Blatter on Monday gave South Africa his highest possible mark for a World Cup that defied sceptics who had predicted disaster. Blatter said he would give a mark of nine out of 10 which was the maximum possible. "Perfection does not exist in our life," he told a news conference.

For the third time in their World Cup history Germany has finished third after beating Uruguay 3-2 in Port Elizabeth on Saturday evening.

A creative arts centre, tucked away under the M1 freeway in Newtown, is a fanatical football supporter's dream.  Here, hundreds of uniquely African football head attire, makarapas, are being churned out by the dozen.

The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) will ask the company marketing stab-proof vests to visitors of the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa to remove Unicef advertising from its website.

Next June's World Cup in South Africa will kick off with a live music spectacular featuring mainly African artists, along with a clutch of world stars, organisers said Wednesday.

With less than a week until volunteer applications for the 2010 Fifa World Cup close on 31 August, over 52,000 applications have been received.

Applications for 2010 World Cup volunteers passed the 15,000 mark a week after the applications opened, Fifa's local organising committee (LOC) said on Monday

The home affairs ministry is hoping to have a new system speeding up airport queues in place by November - in time for the 2010 World Cup, officials said on Wednesday.

The application process for the 2010 Fifa World Cup volunteer programme opens today. A total of 15 000 volunteers are required and will be selected from South Africa, the continent and the rest of the world.

A 12 percent wage offer ended a week-long strike by 70,000 workers at World Cup construction sites, officials said on Wednesday.

South Africans rallied behind football in a rare show of unity at the Confederations Cup, a year ahead of the 2010 World Cup, in a country trying to shake off decades of race segregation.

Despite South Africa's loss to Brazil in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup, newspapers on Friday praised Bafana Bafana's efforts in the World Cup dress rehearsal.

Beyond the angst about whether South Africa will pull off a successful soccer World Cup next year is a more profound question - can the competition bring the races closer 15 years after the end of apartheid?

Built to look like a vast cooking pot simmering above a ring of fire, South Africa's Soccer City Stadium promises to be an unforgettable venue for next year's World Cup and one of the world's most spectacular sporting arenas.

The world has now seen South Africa is ready to stage the 2010 World Cup finals which kick-off on June 11 next year, world soccer body Fifa said on Monday.

United States president Barack Obama has accepted an invitation to attend the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup final in Johannesburg on June 11.

"The president of the United States has been invited to the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup. He has accepted our invitation," Fifa president Sepp Blatter said during media discussion in Johannesburg.
 

From stark photographs of African children chasing a home-made soccer ball to sleek bronze footballers sculpted in mid-kick -  the buzz around the 2010 World Cup has also made its way into art.

South African media on Monday gushed over the opening of the 2009 Confederations Cup, describing it as "spectacular" and "electrifying" despite the poor peformance by the national team Bafana Bafana.

Africa waited decades to host its first soccer World Cup and when it comes, it's during an unprecedented global economic crisis. Yet not even the worst crisis since the Great Depression seems likely to deter millions of fanatical football fans or big commercial sponsors. Instead, the tournament is set to give South Africa a strong economic boost at its own time of need.

South Africa is well-prepared to stage the Confederations Cup from Sunday onwards, one year ahead of hosting the World Cup, an advisor for the ruling football body Fifa says.

The stadium that will be used for the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Soccer City near Nasrec, is about 92% complete, the stadium's project director Mike Moody said on Wednesday.

Once completed, the 94 000-seater Soccer City will be one of the biggest stadiums ever built for a soccer World Cup event and will be by far the biggest in Africa.

Fancy world-class football in South Africa alongside a trip to the Victoria Falls or a Namib desert safari? This is possible, according to FIFA 2010 organisers and regional countries that want Africa's first ever World Cup to spill over into South Africa's neighbours.

Ticket sales for the 2009 Confederations Cup are fast approaching the 400 000 mark, with just three weeks left before the kickoff.

Some 383 506 tickets, or 63% of the total 640 000 tickets available, had been sold by 21 May, according to Fifa.

The Brazil-Italy game is sold out, but there are still tickets available in various categories for the other games, including the final.

The second phase of ticket sales for the opening match, semi-finals and the final of the 2010 Fifa World Cup have been sold  out, Fifa said on Thursday.

The International Marketing Council of South Africa (IMC), the custodian of Brand South Africa, has launched a major campaign to spark enthusiasm and unite the country and the continent behind the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup and 2010 World Cup.

Anchoring the campaign are two new television adverts, one inviting Africa to rally behind the 2010 Fifa World Cup, the other celebrating ordinary South Africans as the "champions" who will make the World Cup a success.