FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke has once again lavished praise on the newly-completed Cape Town Stadium, saying its pitch is the best of all the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ venues.

"It's definitely the best pitch we have during this World Cup™. I'm sorry for the other stadiums, but it's a fact."

Valcke was speaking after Cape Town Mayor, Alderman Dan Plato, and Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille, officially handed the Cape Town Stadium over to FIFA on Wednesday 26 May 2010.

A FIFA delegation, accompanied by Local Organising Committee head Danny Jordaan, is travelling around the country to officially receive the 10 stadiums that will be used for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

The handover was preceded by a stadium tour and a commemorative plaque was also unveiled.

Zille paid tribute to the workers who had helped build the stadium, and the project managers who had exceeded expectations with the job they had done.

Valcke promised the City officials that FIFA would look after the stadium during the month-long tournament.

FIFA officials are already hard at work making final venue preparations for the eight matches that the 68 000-seat stadium will host.

This includes setting up camera positions, building the broadcasting centre, cableway camera platform, and media tribune, preparing food and beverage stalls and fitting out the hospitality tents.

Valcke also said there was no substance to an alleged terrorist plot against the World Cup™ by al-Qaeda.

Valcke has previously described Cape Town Stadium as "perfect".

"It's just an amazing stadium, and all the teams who play in Cape Town, will play in a perfect place," he said during an inspection tour in March. He added then that the stadium's rye grass pitch will be treated as a benchmark for all other World Cup™ venues.|

FIFA president Sepp Blatter also described the stadium as "Cape Town's jewel" during a previous visit.