Free State Stadium is one of the ten South African venues that will serve as the site of games in the 2010 World Cup. It will be the site of six games, five of them group-stage matches: Japan versus Cameroon on June 14; Greece against Nigeria on June 17; Slovakia against Paraguay on June 20; South Africa versus France on June 22; and, finally, Switzerland versus Honduras on June 25. The last game in the World Cup for Free State Stadium will be played on June 27, in the round of 16, whose contestants are to be decided by the outcome of the group stage.

Free State Stadium was erected in 1952, and then upgraded ahead of the World Cup. The newly renovated venue, which cost an estimated $33 million, opened in 2010, months before the big event. Free State Stadium has been used for many major events over the course of its existence, most notably the Rugby World Cup in 1995. Both rugby and soccer teams use the venue; its home teams are the Free State Cheetahs in rugby and the Bloemfontein Celtic in soccer.

The stadium is located in Bloemfontain, a mid-sized central city of about 400,000, not far from the border South African border with Lisotho. Bloemfontain, which means "Spring of Bloom" in Dutch, is also known as the City of Roses. The city, which serves as the South African judicial branch's capital, is also the capital of Free State Province, which also serves as the namesake of the stadium. Bloemfontain is adjacent to the famous Soetdoring Game Reserve, which is home to zebras, wildebeests, African wildcats, and rhinos, among other big animals.