Sepp Blatter believes the decision to award the World Cup to South Africa will be fully vindicated.

The FIFA chief joined South African president Jacob Zuma in welcoming the event to the country on Sunday, with both leaders agreeing the competition will leave a permanent legacy.

Blatter, a long-time supporter of bringing the tournament to the African continent, has faced plenty of criticism for the decision but he said: "It was a long way to come with FIFA's World Cup to Africa and to connect it with South Africa to make it an African World Cup. It was a long way to come, but we did it."