According to press reports on 5 November 2004, world soccer legend Pelé encouraged FIFA to consider using artificial turf for some of the 2010 World Cup games in South Africa.

It's believed that due to climatic conditions, the country may not be able to guarantee that their natural grass pitches are of the quality required by FIFA.

Already there are new regulations which allow for qualifying matches in FIFA competitions to be played on artificial turf so it will be interesting to watch the developments on this issue over the coming years preceding the South Africa event.