South Africa, its football, and its fractured, fragile national identity will be the focus of the planet for the next 364 days.
It will start on Sunday when the Confederations Cup kicks off with a match between Bafana Bafana and Iraq at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
The eight-team Confederations Cup competition is a test event for 2010, when South Africa will host the big one, the prestigious Football World Cup.
The Confed event - billed as the "Festival of Champions" - features the winners of Fifa's six regional competitions, together with the current World Cup champions and the 2010 host nation.
The four venues for the tournament are Ellis Park, Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein and Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg.
The countries involved are Italy (World champions), Spain (European champions), Egypt (African champions), Brazil (South American champions), United States (champions of North and Central America and the Caribbean), Iraq (Asian champions), New Zealand (Oceania champions) and hosts South Africa.
For 2010 favourites such as Brazil, Italy and Spain, the Confederations Cup is an opportunity to experience South African conditions such as the weather, the stadiums and fields, the people, the atmosphere - a full year before the World Cup Finals.
For South Africa, as a country, it's a dress rehearsal to fine-tune preparations for the 2010 showpiece as far as infrastructure, security, hospitality and transport are concerned.
For Bafana Bafana, this is the chance to ascertain whether the squad selected by head coach Joel Santana has the quality to do the country proud at the World Cup.
It's critical that the host nation does well at a World Cup as it fuels the passion for the event while at the same time maintaining intense local interest.
But if Bafana disappoint in the Confederations Cup, where they are in a group with Iraq, New Zealand and Spain, then the road to 2010 will be littered with problems.
For football fans across the country, though, this is a tournament to savour. Some of the best footballers in the world are right here on South African soil.
Having been enthralled by Barcelona's success in the European Champions League - when they comprehensively outclassed Manchester United 2-0 in Rome - Spain have players who were critical to that magnificent victory: Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol and the mercurial, always brilliant Xavi.
The European champions also have Liverpool's Fernando Torres, Albert Reira, Xabi Alonso and Pepe Reina, Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas, and Real Madrid's Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos.
Brazil, who are also the defending Confederations Cup champions, sport a host of exciting individual talents from former World Footballer of the Year Kaka to Robinho, Luis Fabiano, Maicon, Lucio, Juan and Kleberson.
And whatever you do over the next two weeks, find the time to watch the latest Brazilian sensation, AC Milan's Alexandre Pato.
World champions Italy may never be the most entertaining side to watch but they remain the epitome of team discipline, tactical organisation and technical proficiency.
They, too, have their world stars, including Gianluigi Buffon, ex-World Footballer of the Year Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Dossena, the hard man of world football, Gennaro Gattuso, Daniele de Rossi, Andrea Pirlo, Luca Toni and Vincenzo Iaquinta.
The stage is set.
For after decades of cruel oppression and 15 years of rocky democracy, it has all come down to this.
The past is the past, it will always be there as a reminder of the sacrifices made to get to the present, but this is the start of the future, the beginning of the rehabilitation of a nation.
How South Africa faces the challenges of the next two weeks, indeed how it tackles the hurdles of the next 364 days, will determine how far it has progressed as a nation - not only in organisational capacity, but in how it embraces football, a sport once so neglected and marginalised back when this country was a backwater of bigotry and prejudice.
Now, as hosts of the Confederations Cup and the site for the 2010 World Cup, South Africa has achieved global prominence. From a frumpy, disregarded Cinderella, it is now the belle of the ball.
When organising sporting events on such a grand scale, there will always be some controversy and there will be challenges in abundance.
But, crucially, the question is, how will South Africa, as a country, as a nation, as a people, respond?