TWENTY years ago in Pasadena, a world record 90,185 spectators attended the 1999 Women’s World Cup Final. 

Few stadiums in the world could accommodate a crowd in excess of that. One is Soccer City in Johannesburg, the venue of the 2010 Men’s World Cup Final and the site of Nelson Mandela’s first speech after his release from prison in 1990. 

Two weeks ago, its chance of becoming the first stadium this century to host both the men’s and women’s World Cup Finals moved a step closer as the South African FA (SAFA) formally submitted their expression of interest to host the ninth Fifa Women’s World Cup four years from now.