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This is the new Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s the crown jewel of the 10 stadiums South Africa will be using to host matches during this summer’s World Cup, and will host the biggest game (including the final). There’s a great gallery of images of the awesome-looking stadium under construction here (credit for this photo belongs to the photographer in this gallery).
South Africa has already spent more than $30 billion Rand (about $4 billion) on direct costs of hosting the tournament, and while critics suggest that money would be better spent on alleviating poverty, the South African Treasury expects the event to boost the country’s GDP by about 1 percent and attract more than 450,000 non-African visitors.
Here’s hoping the World Cup will be a boon for Johannesburg, South Africa and Africa as a whole, and that South Africa will be able to avoid the type of tragedy that has marred the ongoing African Cup of Nations in Angola.
