World Cup 2010: Stadium

Beginning on June 11, 2010, the World Cup kicks off in South Africa and what is being billed as "Soccer City is the best", the 69,070-seat Cape Town Stadium is nearly soundproof.

Thanks to engineering, the open-air stadium, which German design team Schlaich Bergermann assembled, the stadium features the world's largest glass ceiling.

The 398,265-square-foot roof consists of 9,000 half-inch-thick glass panels, arranged in a ring above the stands, and a Teflon and fiberglass mesh suspended below the glass. Together they reflect the crowd's roar back onto the field and stands (potentially handing an advantage to the team with the loudest cheering section) to prevent noise from escaping through the roof's central hole.