Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman has joined USA's World Cup bid for the 2018 or 2022 tournaments. The star of recent rugby World Cup film Invictus, filmed in South Africa, has formally accepted an invitation to join the Board of Directors for the USA Bid Committee in its effort to bring the FIFA World Cup to the United States.

Freeman, who portrayed Nelson Mandela in the film set in 1995 after apartheid was abolished, said that sport had a way of bringing the people together hence his reason for accepting the invitation.

"As Mandela said once, 'Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, the power to unite people that little else has,'" said Freeman. "I have seen the power that sport, and in particular soccer, can have on individuals around the world and that is why I am so honored to represent and support the United States through the conclusion of this noble effort to bring the tournament back to our country."