FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010
South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup Odds ►►
The FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 is the nineteenth competition of the World Cup.
The tournament will be held in South Africa from June 11th to July 11th; it is the fifth time that this tournament will be taking place in the Southern Hemisphere and the first time it will be played on the African Continent.
Various countries in Europe, Asia and America have been hosting this tournament since its creation in 1930.
For two decades the idea of a World Cup in Africa has been considered, a response to the growth and development of soccer in that continent. This growth has been reflected in the progress that some African teams have made in various international tournaments.
For the election of the hosting country for the World Cup of 1994, Morocco came within three votes of defeating the United States and subsequently re-submitted nominations for the 1998 and 2006 World Cups. In this last election, South Africa submitted its candidature with the support of the FIFA president, Joseph Blatter.
2006 seemed to be South Africa’s turn; however, the presence of Franz Beckenbauer bent the balance towards the European power and the South African people had to wait four more years.
After the controversial election, Blatter decided to create a "rotation system" so that all continents have their World Cup.
Germany was awarded the 2006 event in a close and controversial vote, winning by one vote. After the defeat of South Africa, the leaders of FIFA decided to affirm a criteria of "continental rotation" that would ensure that the next event would be hosted in Africa, the last great continent that had not yet been host (Asia had already organized it in 2002). FIFA allowed only African nominations and six countries expressed their intentions.
Along with South Africa and Morocco, both candidates in previous elections, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria and Tunisia expressed interest. Nigeria, however, retired from the beginning of the race without officially submitting its candidature to FIFA. Libya, on the other hand, announced that, if selected, it could not allow Israel to participate in the tournament, leading to its disqualification. Nevertheless, Libya kept its application until the final presentation. Tunisia, which had considered a partnership with the Libyans, withdrew days before the voting.
Three candidates had real possibilities: Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa. However, the battle was mainly between South Africa and Morocco. The Moroccans were presented as a bridge between the West and the Muslim world, and as close alternative to Europe, while South Africans based its candidacy on economic development and experience in sporting events (such as the Rugby World Cup and the Cricket World Cup).
On May 15, 2004 the election was held in the Swiss city of Zurich. Morocco counted on the support of Belgium, Spain, France, Qatar, Thailand, Turkey and the four votes of the African Football Confederation. These ten votes were insufficient to counteract the 14 votes received by the other Latin American representatives, who voted for South Africa. Egypt did not receive any votes. The South African victory was sealed with Nelson Mandela, the leading figure in South Africa's candidature, who lifted the World Cup trophy as an indication of his country’s triumph.
204 of the 208 national associations attached to the FIFA registered to participate in the classification process conducted between mid 2007 and late 2009 to determine the 32 teams in the final stage of the tournament.
The championship will consist of two phases. The first consists of eight groups of four teams each; the top two teams of each group will advance to the next round. The 16 classified teams will then face off in qualifying matches until the two final teams face each other in the final. The final will be held at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg. Previously, the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 was organized in the cities of Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Rustenburg.