Factbox on top five stadiums for World Cup finals

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JOHANNESBURG, May 19 (Reuters) - The month-long World Cup, starting on June 11, will be played at 10 stadiums in nine South African cities.

The venues are split between the high veldt, where altitude and cold evening temperatures will be an issue for teams and fans, the warmer coastal locations and the small northern cities of Nelspruit and Polokwane. All venues are ready except for final work on stadium approaches.

There will be a concentration of World Cup matches in Gauteng, the economic heartland of South Africa and the highest altitude area, where most teams have established their training camps in order to acclimatise. This is also the area with the worst record of violent crime in South Africa, one of the greatest concerns of tournament organisers.

At 1,753 metres it is the highest World Cup venue, and is the economic and business capital of South Africa in its richest region. It became a city in the late 19th century during a gold rush to mine the rich Witwatersrand reef. Known by inhabitants as Jozi or Joburg, it was also a centre of political agitation against apartheid before majority rule in 1994, especially in the township of Soweto, and there are important symbols of the struggle, including the Apartheid Museum and Nelson Mandela's old home. South Africa's best-known sides, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, play in Johannesburg, as well as the university side BidVest Wits, nicknamed the "Clever Boys".

Mandela's first mass rally after his release from 27 years of jail in 1990 was at Soccer City.

ELLIS PARK - A famous rugby stadium first built in 1928 and reconstructed in 1982, it has been upgraded. Used for finals of the 1995 rugby World Cup, when Mandela's appearance in a Springbok jersey to support the winning national team had a profound impact in winning over the country's reluctant whites a year after the end of apartheid. Capacity nearly 62,000. Seven matches, including a quarter-final.

The so-called "Mother City" is South Africa's most visited and is regarded by many as its most beautiful. It is a vibrant, multicultural city on the Atlantic Ocean, one of three coastal venues. Parliament sits here. The notorious Robben Island prison, where Nelson Mandela spent two decades, is offshore and is now a big tourist destination. The country's best-known wine-growing region and the popular coastal "Garden Route" are nearby.