England soccer stars, headed by captain and Manchester United midfielder David Beckham, and coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, requested a meeting with former South African president Nelson Mandela during their first visit to South Africa this week.
The English team is in the country to mend bridges burned after a bitter rivalry over hosting the 2006 Soccer World Cup.
Mandela will meet the South Africa and England soccer squads on May 21, a senior soccer official said on Tuesday.
The teams meet the following evening at Absa Stadium in the Indian Ocean city of Durban, in a friendly that has captured the imagination of a country where English football enjoys a massive following.
National Football Association official Danny Jordaan said the teams would fly from Durban to Johannesburg for an audience with Mandela, who led South Africa for five years after its first multiracial elections in 1994.
The former president is an avid football fan who presented the African Nations Cup in 1996, when South Africa won the biennial competition for the only time with a 2-0 triumph over Tunisia in Johannesburg.
A disputed Ian Wright goal gave England a 2-1 friendly victory over South Africa the following year at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United, in a previous match between the countries. – Sapa-AFP