The football stadium in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth has been the first newly-built 2010 World Cup ground to be officially opened, a year before the start of the tournament in South Africa.
The 48,000-seater Nelson Mandela Bay stadium will host eight games at the World Cup, including a quarter final and the third/fourth place play-off. The new ground will also be used to host the touring British and Irish Lions rugby team against a local Southern Kings Invitational side.
"For us today's first opening of a newly-built 2010 FIFA World Cup stadium is a huge boost. It demonstrates the capacity of SA's (South Africa) construction industry and our commitment to deliver on all our 2010 FIFA World Cup promises," said chief executive of the organising committee Danny Jordaan.
The 2010 curtain-raiser Confederations Cup starts next Sunday at four refurbished stadiums in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Rustenburg.
Jordaan added that the five additional new stadiums that will also be used in the World Cup were "shaping up nicely" to be ready ahead of 2010.
