FIFA and the 2010 soccer World Cup Organising Committee Friday concluded a five-day inspection tour to six of the ten 2010 stadiums with words of praise for the host cities.
"We are very impressed with the efforts made in all venues visited and amazed by the level of detail of their preparations. We have achieved our goals with this inspection to clarify the dynamic requirements such as the access routes and to assist the host cities in finding solutions for some of the challenges.
"The great engagement, from the premiers and mayors, to the project managers in each city - and the significant progress made - proves that we are on the right track," summarised Ron DelMont, FIFA's head of the inspection tour delegation and head of the world governing body of football's South Africa office.
"And speaking to some of my FIFA colleagues who have worked on numerous World Cups dating back to 1994, I can assure you we are arguably ahead of previous FIFA World Cup organisers at this comparative stage."
From Monday to Friday this week the delegation headed by Dennis Mumble, the OC's chief officer of competitions and DelMont visited Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium, Tshwane's Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Rustenburg's Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace, Polokwane's Peter Mokaba Stadium, Nelspruit's Mbombela Stadium and Mangaung's Free State Stadium.
The last inspection tour, in October 2007, visited Johannesburg's Soccer City, the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Cape Town's Greenpoint Stadium and Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium.
The tour provided further evidence that preparations for the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 and World Cup are going full steam ahead.
Sapa