Guests Named For World Cup Draw

South Africa’s Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron, former England captain David Beckham and Ethiopian athletics legend Haile Gebrselassie have been unveiled as some of the high-profile guests for this week’s 2010 World Cup draw in Cape Town.

Theron, who won an Oscar for her role in the 2003 movie ‘Monster’, will be a guest presenter. She will assist FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke during the eagerly-anticipated 2010 draw.

Also on stage will be Beckham, who has scored in three consecutive World Cups, multiple world champion Gebrselassie and Makhaya Ntini, the first black cricketer to play for South Africa.

South African rugby captain John Smit will also take part, while the country’s president Jacob Zuma will kick off proceedings alongside FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Nobel Peace Prize winners F.W. de Klerk and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as well as former football icons Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, Eusebio and Roger Milla will also be on hand.

Ageing former South African president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela, one of the architects of the first African World Cup, will address the audience by video message.

‘This is a very important event for football and Africa as the Final Draw comes to Cape Town where an unprecedented six teams from the host continent will be represented,’ said Valcke.

‘We expect a record global audience which I hope will be glued to their screens for the duration of the show.’

An estimated 250 million people are expected to watch the draw on television, where the 32 teams who have qualified will find out who they play and where.