In a previous article (see Is South Africa Ready for the World Cup?) we talked about the ceremony at Durban’s Moses Mabhida stadium commemorating an important construction milestone. This might quite logically leave you wondering how many stadiums are actually going to be involved with the FIFA World Cup.

The answer? Ten, in nine different South African cities.

Specifically, five of South Africa’s football stadiums will undergo major renovations for the World Cup: Ellis Park and Soccer City in Johannesburg, Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, the Royal Bafokeng stadium in Mafikeng in North West Province and Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein in the Free State.

New stadiums are also being built at Mbombela in Mpumalanga and in the Nelson Mandela Metro (which encompasses Port Elizabeth) in the Eastern Cape. Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane in Limpopo is being completely rebuilt, as is King Senzangakhona Stadium in Durban and Cape Town’s Green Point stadium.

Kings Park and Green Point stadium are being redesigned as part of the project to become multi-sport facilities (cricket? :-), and Green Point will include a retractable dome to protect the field from the Cape’s unpredictable winter weather.

How much will all this construction cost?  You don’t want to know. You do?  The initial budget was set to 9.8 billion rand (1.28 billion dollars), but as with just about all construction projects, it’s already apparently over budget. So it’s a big, big job and we’re certainly hoping to see beautiful world-class sports facilities that include top-notch video equipment compatibility so that those of us that don’t travel to South Africa can enjoy the games at each of the ten new venues.