By Jane Flanagan
Last updated at 4:34 AM on 12th July 2010
There was pure joy in Spain last night after the national football team was crowned World champion for the first time in a tempestuous match that saw the largest number of bookings in the tournament’s history.
English referee Howard Webb set the new world record by handing out 14 yellow cards and one red in a nail-biting finale which ended in the dying minutes of extra time.
Dutch players and fans were left broken hearted when a late strike by Spain four minutes before the end of extra time secured the dramatic win.
Celebration: Spanish football fans celebrate their team's triumph in the streets of Madrid last night
Champions: Fans were celebrating the first World Cup win for Spain, which was playing in its first final
The result also gave Paul the 'oracle octopus' his eighth accurately-predicted World Cup result in a row.
The evening of drama at Soccer City, Johannesburg, had begun with a spectacular closing ceremony which was followed by an unexpected appearance by Nelson Mandela.
The frail but ecstatic former South African president had earlier braved the winter chill to make his first appearance at the tournament.
Goal! Spain's Andres Iniesta (right) shoots the ball past Netherlands goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg in the second half of extra time
Champions: Spain's goalkeeper Iker Casilla lifts the World Cup after beating the Netherlands 1-0 in a bad-tempered final at the Soccer City stadium outside Johannesburg
Fiesta time: Spanish fans celebrate in a Barcelona fountain after their national team won the 2010 World Cup
World champions: The Spanish team won their first ever World Cup after a dramatic extra-time victory in Johannesburg
The iconic statesman, in a fur hat to keep out the evening cold, cast a dignified shadow in contrast to the motley selection of other African leaders including Zimbabwean despot Robert Mugabe, who had flocked to the clash between Holland and Spain in their private jets.
Mr Mandela played a crucial role in bringing the World Cup to Africa, but had yet to make an appearance.
Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso required treatment after this challenge from The Netherlands' Nigel de Jong
Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder vents his frustration as he is penalised by English referee Howard Webb
TV host Sara Carbonero, who made headlines after Spain's loss to Switzerland by quizzing her goalkeeper boyfriend Iker Casillas about his poor performance live on air, prepares to watch last night's final
Earlier in the day, his family had hit out at 'extreme pressure' from the sport's governing body FIFA. They had warned that attending the evening spectacular would prove 'too strenuous' for him.
The spectacle of him riding on to the Soccer City pitch on the back of a golf buggy, flanked by his third wife Graca Machel, prompted a deafening blast of vuvuzelas and cheers from the 85,000-strong crowd.
Proud: Former South African President Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel wave to the crowd following the closing ceremony of World Cup 2010
National hero: Mr Mandela was driven around the stadium an hour before kick-off
Heart-broken: Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan are distraught after watching their side lose the final 1-0
Smiling broadly, his thin frame muffled in a scarf and coat, Mr Mandela waved to the crowd and shook hands of starstruck well-wishers.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner is rarely seen in public these days and is in increasingly fragile health.
Mr Mandela’s grandson today lashed out at Fifa's controversial president Sepp Blatter in particular for putting too much pressure on him to attend.
Security alert: A crazed fan ran towards the World Cup just moments before kick-off. He was knocked to the ground and escorted off the pitch
Sea of orange: Dutch fans gather outside the stadium outside ahead of the sporting showdown
State of the art: The stadium looked no less spectacular as darkness fell
Plans for him to be at the opening ceremony and game were cancelled after his 13-year-old great granddaughter was killed in a car crash the night before.
On the morning of the final, the former South African president's grandson Mandla Mandela told the BBC: 'We've come under extreme pressure from Fifa requiring and wishing that my grandfather be at the final.
'I think people ought to just understand the family's traditions and customs and understand we've had a loss in the family and we are in mourning and that for me would be enough reason to leave the family to be for now.'
Countdown: Spanish fans eagerly await their national team's World Cup final clash with the Netherlands
All smiles: Yolanthe Cabau van Kasbergen (centre), the girlfriend of Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder, poses with fans before kick-off
Although pundits will never record the tournament as the most successful in footballing terms, the month-long event has had a hugely unifying effect on South Africa which continues to be dogged by racial divisions, 16 years after the end of apartheid.
last night’s final will certainly prove to be the noisiest match of the entire competition with fans enjoying their last chance to blast the controversial vuvuzela, which has become synonymous with the tournament.
And the sight of the legendary anti-apartheid leader gave South Africa a chance to relive the 'Mandela moment’ from the 1995 rugby World Cup, when the country’s first black president donned the captain’s jersey of the winning rugby team.
Light show: The closing ceremony kicks off as an estimated 700million people prepared to watch the final
Elephant floats: The ceremony celebrated Africa's rich cultural history. This year's tournament marked the first time the World Cup has been hosted by an African nation
Morgan Freeman, who played Mr Mandela in Invictus, the recent Hollywood version of the iconic moment, was among scores of celebrities, royalty and world leaders who have gathered for the game.
They included Paris Hilton, Prince Albert of Monaco and his South African fiancée, the King of Swaziland - Africa's last absolute monarch, and the King and Queen of Spain.
Mr Mugabe, whose country has been bankrupted by his ruinous rule, arrived in an ageing jet commandeered from the Zimbabwean national airline, but failed to provide a lift for his own Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, who flew into Johannesburg on a scheduled flight.
Pop superstar: Colombian singer Shakira performs Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) at the closing ceremony
Colourful collective: Performers take to the stage during the spectacular ceremony
Taking it easy: Fans dressed in the Netherlands' traditional orange gather in Amsterdam this evening
Paul the octopus who resides in a German aquarium has predicted seven correct results. He has predicted that Spain will triumph tonight which got short shrift from this Dutchman (right) outside Soccer Stadium
And tonight's officials are ... Howard Webb (centre) and his assistant referees Mike Cann (left) and Darren Mclarkey (right). The trio go through their paces ahead of the match
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