Nelson Mandela wants to attend Sunday's World Cup final between Spain and Netherlands for a while to greet soccer fans, his grandson said.
FIFA has said it hopes Mandela will attend but the former South Africa president, who turns 92 on July 18, is increasingly frail and rarely appears in public.
He missed the opening match of the tournament a month ago after his great-granddaughter died in a car accident.
"He's going to rest and try and get some energy for tonight," his grandson Mandla Mandela told Reuters on Sunday ahead of the match at Soccer City.
"He wishes to go to the stadium but we know with his age he can change his mind later on but he has expressed that he is coming to the stadium to come and greet the fans and go back home. He has made the decision that he wants to show up and greet the fans and we all respect that. We are looking forward (to it and hope) that he will come through," said Mandla.
The presence of Mandela, revered globally for his role in fighting apartheid and leading his country to democracy, would cap South African joy at successfully hosting the first World Cup on the continent.
Bafana Bafana bowed out of the tournament at the first round stage but president Jacob Zuma said on Saturday the relatively smooth hosting of the finals made its people the champions.
Sceptics had doubted Africa's economic powerhouse could organise the World Cup, including completing construction of stadiums on time.
While some tourists have been robbed, the world's biggest sporting event has taken place largely peacefully, dousing fears of attacks on foreigners in a country with one of the world's highest rates of violent crime outside a war zone.
