Abstract

In order to win the rights to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup leaders of the post‐1994 government and soccer administrators used sport and cultural diplomacy as enabling instruments to assert South Africa’s credentials. Such a move was made possible by the fact that sport had been successfully used for decades as an oppositional tool against the apartheid regime. Another important contributory factor was that since 1994, South Africa’s foreign policy has been based on a vision of a ‘better South Africa, a better Africa and a better world’. This Pan‐African vision is defined by the following values: freedom, equality, solidarity and tolerance. These values also inform South Africa’s cultural diplomacy which underpins the staging of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.