President Obama will attend the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has announced. Reuters reports:

President Obama, whose late father was Kenyan, has indicated he will attend the event on June 11 next year when the first World Cup to be staged on African soil begins.

Blatter told a media briefing: "The World Cup in Africa will go well, there is no doubt. And the man who said, 'Yes we can do it,' will be there. President Obama has accepted an invitation to the opening ceremony. Of course the schedule of heads of state can change, but he has said he will be there if he can."

Obama will make his second trip to Africa as president next month when he visits Ghana. The announcement comes as the United States national team surprisingly advanced in to the semifinals of the Confederations Cup, also in South Africa, with a 3-0 win over Egypt yesterday.

UPDATE: Press secretary Robert Gibbs, a former goalie, says that the president has committed to meet with Blatter, but had not definitively scheduled a trip to South Africa just yet.