2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa to be granted host status, Nelson Mandela had previously spoken of the importance of football in his life, stating that while incarcerated in Robben Island prison playing football "made us feel alive and triumphant despite the situation we found ourselves in". With South Africa winning their bid, an emotional Mandela raised the FIFA World Cup Trophy. During 2006 and 2007, rumours circulated in various news sources that the 2010 World Cup could be moved to another country. Franz Beckenbauer, Horst R. Schmidt and, reportedly, some FIFA executives, expressed concern over the planning, organisation, and pace of South Africa's
2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup announced that bidding had re-opened for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. New member associations interested in hosting submitted a declaration of interest by 15 April 2014, and provided the complete set of bidding documents by 1 October 2014. The following 12 countries made official bids for hosting the tournament. Argentina were the only country to submit an entry in both rounds of bidding. On 19 December 2014, the FIFA Executive Committee announced the Bahamas as hosts. Qualification began with the European qualifiers on 2 September 2016 and concluded with the final match of the AFC event on 11