The six African countries bidding to host the 2010 World Cup finals face their second deadline in Zurich on Tuesday when they hand over their bid documents to FIFA.

Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia are each scheduled to make a 45-minute presentation to FIFA president Sepp Blatter, providing details of their plans and documentation, including government guarantees and commercial contracts.

South Africa, considered the favourites, were drawn to make the first presentation.

The bid documents will be followed by inspection visits of the candidate countries by a FIFA delegation led by Belgian football federation president Jan Peeters, which are to start early next month in Morocco.

The decision on which country will host the 2010 finals will be made by FIFA's executive committee members in Paris next May.

South Africa, who lost a controversial vote to Germany in the race to host the 2006 finals, have produced a document of 1,000 pages, officials said.

"The book is your proposal to FIFA on how you are going to manage the event from a sporting point of view as well as from a business point of view. It's very important that you demonstrate your ability to put together a successful event," said South Africa 2010 Bid Company chief executive officer Danny Jordaan.

"I am very happy with the document. I think its an improvement on 2006," he told Reuters.

FOURTH BID

Morocco, who are bidding for the fourth time and considered strong challengers, also expressed their confidence in their bid documentation, describing it as "solid and very thorough".

"We have tried to shake out the negatives from our previous losing bids," said Saad Kettani, chairman of Association Morocco 2010, the organisation running the country's bid.

Egypt have employed French consultations in the compilation of their document, officials said.

Libya and Tunisia have been scheduled to make separate presentations on Tuesday despite announcing a joint bid earlier this month.

Last week, officials of both countries said they would have little realistic chance if they competed on their own, lacking the necessary infrastructure and stadium capacity, but presented a viable candidacy together.

FIFA have yet to formally comment on the joint bid plan but Blatter told reporters in Johannesburg last week that co-hosting was not an option.

Nigeria will be the last of six countries to present but their bid campaign has floundered in recent months, officials said.

Several of the bidding countries are expected to include sporting and film celebrities in their official delegations. Actor Omar Shariff is part of the Egyptian delegation while Morocco are to include tennis star Younes El Aynaoui and athlete Hicham El Guerrouj in their publicity campaign.

Two former African Footballers of the Year, Abedi Pele and George Weah, are to travel to Zurich as part of South Africa's campaign.