Sixteen years after its miraculous rebirth as a democratic nation, nine cities in South will get a chance this year to host the greatest spectacular on earth – the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Apart from providing an excellent chance to see the country, visiting the host cities will give tourists nine distinctive tastes of what the rainbow nation is all about.

The host cities and their corresponding stadiums are as follows:
    * Bloemfontein (Free State) – Free State Stadium
    * Cape Town (Western Cape) – Cape Town Stadium
    * Durban (Kwa-Zulu Natal) – Moses Mabhida Stadium
    * Johannesburg (Gauteng province)– Soccer City and Ellis Park
    * Nelspruit (Mpumalanga) – Mbombela Stadium
    * Polokwane (Limpopo) –  Peter Mokaba Stadium
    * Port Elizabeth (Eastern Cape) – Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
    * Pretoria (Gauteng province) – Loftus Versfeld Stadium
    * Rustenburg (North West province) – Royal Bafokeng Stadium

Announcing the host cities
The nine host cities were announced early in the preparation phase for the 2010 World Cup to afford them an opportunity to learn from their counterparts in Germany, who hosted the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

What are the cities like?
Each city is different. They each have their own slice of history to offer. They are an expression of the diversity of cultures within their borders.

Between them they have everything from the cosmpolitan beauty of Cape Town to the urban African vibrancy of Johannesburg. From Port Elizabeth to Polokwane, you'll find cities drenched in culture, stretches of shorelines often compared to the best in the world,  natural splendour and genuine South African hospitality.

Of the nine provinces, four lie on the coast of Africa and five are landlocked:  

• The Western Cape lies at the most southern end of Africa.

• The Eastern Cape lies on the east coast of Africa and borders KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho in the north.

• The Northern Cape is on Africa’s West Coast and borders the Western Cape in the south and Namibia and Botswana in the north. This is South Africa's most sparsely populated province and no World Cup fixtures will be held here.

• KwaZulu-Natal has the Eastern Cape to its South, with the sea to the east and Mpumalanga and Swaziland in the north.

• Free State province is South Africa’s most central province bordering on six other provinces with the exception of the Northern Province and the Western Cape.

• Gauteng has borders with the Northern Province in the north, Mpumalanga in the east, Free State to the south and North West Province to the west.

• Mpumalanga borders  on Mozambique and Swaziland in the east, and is separated from KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State by the Vaal River, the Klip River and the Pongola River. Gauteng lies to the west and the Northern Province to the north of Mpumalanga.

• The Northern Province is the most northern province of the country, bordering on Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana. 

• The North West Province borders on Botswana in the west and Gauteng to the south.