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About the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa
Every four years, there's the soccer equivalent of a world war as teams from around the globe face off in the FIFA World Cup. The 2010 FIFA World Cup is the 19th and current FIFA World Cup, the premier international association football tournament. It is being held in South Africa, beginning on 11 June and scheduled to conclude on 11 July 2010.
The venue
For the first time in the World Cup's history -- which dates back to 1930 and skipped 1942 and 1946 due to a real world war -- an African nation will host the cup. Libya and Tunisia tried to put in a bid to co-host the cup, but Tunisia withdrew because of FIFA rules against joint bidding and Libya was then disqualified for not meeting the requirements on its own. That left bidders Egypt, Morocco and South Africa. South Africa won in the first round of voting, with 14 votes to Morocco's 10. South Africa nearly won the right to host the 2006 World Cup, but Germany beat the country by one vote, 12-11.
South Africa gets an automatic spot in the tournament as the host nation, but had already participated in qualifying rounds. The matches will take place at 10 venues in nine host cities across the country: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Tshwane/Pretoria, Polokwane, Rustenburg, Mangaung/Bloemfontein, Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth, Durban, Nelspruit. Among the venues will be five new stadiums.
The teams
The teams that have qualified are:
Asian Football Confederation: Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea
Confederation of African Football: Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa
Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football: United States, Mexico, Honduras
South American Football Confederation: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
Oceania Football Confederation: New Zealand
Union of European Football Associations: Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland.
The Tie-breaking criteria
For the World Cup tournament, FIFA uses the following criteria to rank teams in the Group Stage.
- greatest number of points in all group matches;
- goal difference in all group matches;
- greatest number of goals scored in all group matches;
- greatest number of points in matches between tied teams;
- goal difference in matches between tied teams;
- greatest number of goals scored in matches between tied teams;
- drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.
About FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is international soccer's governing body based in Zurich, Switzerland. FIFA has 208 members, more than the United Nations, and recognizes six global soccer confederations.
