The South African coastal city of Durban is to host the official launch of the 100-day countdown to the FIFA World Cup on March 2, it was announced on Friday. Danny Jordaan, chief executive of South Africa's 2010 local organizing committee, said on Friday that the extravagant celebration would include a special gala banquet and a football match at Durban's new Moses Mabhida Stadium.

The World Cup will kick off on June 11 at Soccer City in Johannesburg.

Jordaan, together with other football officials and the chairman of the South African National Assembly's sports committee, Butana Komphela, held a meeting in Durban on Friday morning with city and KwaZulu-Natal provincial government officials to confirm that the celebration would be held in the city.

"We came to Durban to get a commitment from the city and province to host this milestone event - the last official World Cup event before the opening ceremony in June," said Jordaan.

"Now that we have their full backing, the finer details will be sorted out. This includes who will be attending the celebrations and which two teams will play in the big match.

"Durban has shown its ability in hosting major events and we know it will deliver. The World Cup Preliminary Draw took place here in 2007 and it was the best one ever held, so we are confident the 100-day countdown on March 2 will be another spectacular event."

An ecstatic Durban mayor, Obed Mlaba, said it was a tremendous honor to host the 100-day countdown and Durban would be pulling out all the stops.

"Durban is the sporting Mecca of Africa and this event will be another of our major coups," he said.

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