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Mpumalanga will know at the end of next month if it is one of the provinces earmarked to host some of the 2010 soccer World Cup matches.

A 13-member FIFA technical team visited the provincial capital, Nelspruit, Thursday, and listened to a presentation prepared by head of the province's bid and Mbombela municipality's deputy manager Roelf Kotze.

The FIFA delegation also took a quick tour to inspect potential training venues such as KaNyamazane stadium in KaNyamazane Township near Nelspruit, KaBokweni stadium near White River and the Nelspruit rugby stadium.

Mpumalanga does not have a stadium for the FIFA matches, but will build a 40 000-seater stadium on a community-owned farm at Mataffin just outside Nelspruit at a cost of R335 million.

Nelspruit is bidding against Kimberley in the Northern Cape, Polokwane in Limpopo and Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape to host the world's greatest soccer showpiece.

The tournament will be staged at eight stadia across South Africa.

"We're very confident that FIFA may choose us. Our presentation was good and they were very happy," said Mbombela municipal manager Bruno Vilane after the delegation's departure on Thursday.

In a joint press statement, Mbombela municipality, Mpumalanga's sports, arts and culture department and South African Football Association's (SAFA) Lowveld chapter said the FIFA delegation would conduct further site inspections in Swaziland and Mozambique.

The two countries are a mere 200km from Nelspruit, and Mpumalanga's success will benefit sport and development tourism in the neighbouring countries.

Mbombela executive mayor Reginah Mhaule said even if the province lost the bid, the municipality would go ahead and build a sports complex anyway, which would be open for use by 2017.

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