South Africa names World Cup venues

Cape Town: South Africa will host the 2010 World Cup at 10 venues, deputy sports minister Gert Oosthuizen announced on Wednesday.

He said Johannesburg (Soccer City and Ellis Park), Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria and Rustenberg would stage matches in the quadrennial showpiece.

Kimberley and Orkney were dropped from the original short list after visits to the 11 candidate cities by officials from world football governing body FIFA.

The final of the four-week tournament is expected to be played at Soccer City, an 80,000-seat stadium on the outskirts of Johannesburg which is among five stadiums scheduled for refurbishment.

Germany hosts the 2006 World Cup in June and July and South Africa will be the first African hosts of a competition that began in Uruguay 76 years ago.