LONDON — The World Cup trophy will embark on its biggest global tour leading up to the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

The soccer world governing body and Coca-Cola announced Thursday that the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour will span 86 countries in 225 days. It will allow thousands of fans to see the solid-gold trophy.

The Trophy Tour, which will begin its journey from the FIFA headquarters in Switzerland on September 21, will travel around the world before arriving in South Africa on May 4, 2010.

The trophy will travel 83,274 miles, more than three times the circumference of the earth.

In 2006, the tour went to 31 cities in 29 countries.