South Africa is ready to stage a "Ferrari" of a World Cup as today's big kick-off approaches.
The opening ceremony and the hosts' Group A clash with Mexico at Johannesburg's Soccer City will see years of planning and investment come to fruition and the excitement around the country is almost tangible.
But while the infrastructure is in place for the best finals yet, FIFA insist they will leave nothing to chance.
Asked if the stadia in South Africa are the best yet for a World Cup, FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke told BBC World Service: "Ah yes, definitely.
"If you compare, if you take the number of stadiums we got in the past World Cups and the number of great stadiums we have here in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, definitely South Africa is above all the countries.
"South Africa is a new benchmark in the organisation of the World Cup.
"But now the main question is, it's great to have the nicest car, it's great to have the latest Ferrari in your hands, but you need to know how to drive it, and that's where we are."
Fans from the competing nations have been arriving in force in recent days to add further colour to proceedings, but the locals are making their own presence felt with South African flag and the sound of vuvuzela horns ever-present.
The World Cup has brought employment to hundreds of thousands, and an army of volunteers will ensure visitors from around the globe enjoy their stay.
But asked how the world of football's most prestigious event will benefit ordinary South Africans, Dr Danny Jordaan, chief executive of 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa, said: "You must remember where we come from.
"We come from a history of a divided country, a long struggle between apartheid and those of us who fought against apartheid; essentially between black and white in this country.
"And how do you bind the country together, how do you get the common folks a shared vision and a shared project?
"The World Cup has become that. You cannot pay money for that."
He added: "I compare this moment to (Nelson) Mandela's release (from prison), for which we waited 27 years. For our right to vote we waited from 1948. But Fifa was formed in 1904, so it has been a long wait for Africa's World Cup. But we did not wait alone. The whole of Africa was waiting with us.
"If you look at the predictions, people said that when Mandela was released it would be the beginning of trouble and chaos.
"When we were about to vote people said it would be the beginning of bloodshed and race war. And we have had the same headlines before the World Cup, that it would be chaos, and it would not happen. But after Mandela was released there was a celebration of a great world icon, and the election was called a miracle."
One man who knows all about the legacy a World Cup can have for the host nation, is Rugby Union World Cup-winning South Africa captain Francois Pienaar, who is hoping the country will unite behind the Bafana Bafana in the same way they did for his team.
He said: "I have seen people that would never have followed soccer wearing the Bafana Bafana shirt because they realise that it's not only in support of the team, but it's in support of South Africa, and indeed being proud to be a South African and an African.
"It's the first time that such a major event has come to the continent, so there has been a groundswell of support. Obviously, if the team is successful, the groundswell will even be bigger."