Cape Town - North London rugby club Saracens will play French club Biarritz in a Heineken Cup match at Cape Town Stadium in January next year.
Grant Pascoe, mayoral committee member for tourism, events and marketing, said on Thursday the match, to be played on January 14, would be the first Heineken Cup clash played outside of Europe.
"This is a historic day for us and a great day for the stadium," Pascoe said.
"The match will take place in the heart of our summer. This historic match is the first Heineken Cup match outside of Europe."
The game, to be broadcast across Europe on 11 television networks, would be an excellent marketing opportunity for Cape Town, Pascoe said.
"This opportunity to have Cape Town broadcast live across the world gives us an opportunity to market our destination so that more visitors from Europe can come visit us," he said.
"It will give people from Europe an opportunity to see and hear Cape Town from the players playing here."
The city has been heavily criticised for agreeing to build the multi billion rand stadium for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.