updated 4:04 p.m. ET May 16, 2004

ZURICH, Switzerland - A triumphant Nelson Mandela was draped in his national flag, while back home bells tolled and crowds sang in the streets. The World Cup, finally, is headed to South Africa.

Mandela’s country was awarded the 2010 tournament Saturday, the first time soccer’s treasured prize will be played in Africa.

South Africa beat Morocco and Egypt in a vote by the executive committee of the sport’s governing body, FIFA. In balloting four years ago for the 2006 World Cup, South Africa lost to Germany by one vote.

“We can all applaud Africa,” FIFA president Sepp Blatter said. “The victor is football. The victor is Africa.”

South Africa received 14 votes during the first round, while Morocco had 10, and Egypt none. As part of a new plan to rotate the event among continents, FIFA decided only African nations could contend for this World Cup.

Tunisia, which wanted to co-host with Libya, withdrew its bid Friday. Libya was eliminated by FIFA on Saturday.

South Africa, rated the best candidate in a report by FIFA, has nine stadiums in place and four more to be refurbished. The country’s high crime rate was said to be the biggest drawback, compared with past concerns over apartheid.

Years of the former racist regime left South Africa outside the mainstream of international sports. For decades, the country was banned from participating in the Olympics and other global competitions.

But after apartheid collapsed, South Africa returned to the Olympics in 1992 at Barcelona, Spain, and hosted last year’s cricket World Cup and the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

This was one of the final public appearances for the frail, 85-year-old Mandela, who championed South Africa’s bid and now wants to bow out of the spotlight. He has said that during the apartheid era one of his few joys in prison was listening to World Cup soccer games on radio.

“I feel like a young man of 50,” said Mandela, who hoisted the World Cup trophy after South Africa’s victory was announced. Fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu embraced Blatter.

Even before Blatter could declare the winner, the words “South Africa” were drowned out by supporters who saw what was written in large letters on the card. Mandela sat in the front row, draped by his flag, as South Africans chanted “Madiba, Madiba,” his tribal name.

In South Africa, the announcement was broadcast live on outdoor screens. Champagne corks popped at soccer stadiums, public squares and community centers as blacks and whites united in jubilation.

“Let’s all go out and celebrate,” President Thabo Mbeki, raising a champagne glass, told a crowd of dancing, singing fans in the capital, Pretoria.

The vote culminated a seven-year campaign to bring the world’s biggest event in team sports to a nation once plagued by apartheid and sports boycotts.

“Members of the executive committee, I hope you understand what you have done for so many people in South Africa — unemployed, no food, but now with hope,” said Danny Jordaan, who led the unsuccessful 2006 bid and was also part of this team. “You have turned a dream into hope and that dream has come true today.”

The South African bid committee has estimated the World Cup will be worth $3.1 billion to the nation’s economy and create 160,000 jobs.

South Africa was favored in the 2006 vote. But on the third ballot, Germany won 12-11 when New Zealand’s Charles Dempsey unexpectedly abstained after his confederation told him to vote for South Africa. Blatter had said that if the vote had been 12-12, he would have cast his tiebreaking ballot for South Africa.

FIFA then decided to rotate World Cup sites by continent, designating 2010 for Africa and 2014 for South America. Brazil, whose federation celebrates its centenary that year, could be the only candidate.

The United States, which hosted the tournament in 1994, hopes the rotation will allow it to bid for the 2018 World Cup, but the host continent for that year has not been determined.

Alan Rothenberg, the leader of the U.S. organizers in 1994, helped put together Morocco’s bid. Morocco’s three previous bids to host the World Cup also ended in defeat.

“We salute our South African brothers for their success,” said Saad Kettani, Morocco’s bid chief. “We send them warm wishes for a wonderful World Cup in 2010. It will be a World Cup for the whole African continent.”

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