Former president Nelson Mandela welcomed the World Cup trophy to South Africa on Thursday before the coveted gold statue begins a tour of the country ahead of next month's World Cup.

"For us there was no way that the trophy would arrive in the country and not being brought first to Mandela," FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said in a statement. "Nelson Mandela was one of the architects of this FIFA World Cup."

Football governing body FIFA sent the gold-and-malachite trophy on a 134,014-kilometre (83,272-mile) world tour that stopped in every African country ahead of the June 11 kick-off of the continent's first World Cup.
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