SOUTH Africa is set to host a prestigious eight-nation Under-20 football tournament next month that will include world champions Brazil and their South American counterparts Argentina.

The next Lionel Messi or Neymar could be heading for Cape Town from May 24 to June 3, where the South American nations will be joined by hosts South Africa, African powerhouses Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, and Asian side Japan.

The tournament has already received approval from the SA Football Association and CAF, and all countries have confirmed their participation.

The organisers are now waiting to hear whether their application for funding from the National Lottery has been approved, though Safa Cape Town chairman Norman Arendse said failure to get the funding would not necessarily sound the event's death knell .

"The Lotto funding is obviously very important to us but if, for some reason, our application is rejected, then we will go back to our sponsors, SuperSport and Safa, and try find a way forward with them," he said.

The impressive line-up of sides was also supposed to include Egypt, but the tragedy of the Port Said massacre in late January meant they have been replaced by Kenya.

Arendse said they would like to play the competition every two years and in future style it around an under-20 version of the Fifa Confederations Cup, with a team from each of Fifa's six regions - Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, North and Central America and Caribbean, and South America.

"We have decided that if you don't take the initiative and try and get things done then you will forever stand still," Arendse said.