The
2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th
FIFA World Cup, the premier international
football tournament. It is
scheduled to take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in
South Africa. The 2010 FIFA World Cup
will be the culmination of a qualification process that began in
August 2007 and involved 204 of the 208
FIFA national
teams. As such, it matches the
2008 Summer Olympics as the sports
event with the most competing nations.
This will
be the first time that the tournament has been hosted by an African
nation, after South Africa beat Morocco
and Egypt
in an
all-African bidding process. Italy are the defending
champions.
The draw for the finals will take place on 4
December 2009 in Cape
Town
.
Host selection
Africa was chosen as the host for the 2010 World Cup as part of a
new policy to rotate the event between football confederations
(which was later abandoned in October 2007). Five African nations
placed bids to host the 2010 World Cup:
Following the decision of the FIFA Executive Committee not to allow
co-hosted tournaments, Tunisia withdrew from the bidding process.
The committee also decided not to consider Libya's solo bid as it
no longer met all the stipulations laid down in the official List
of Requirements.
After one
round of voting, the winning bid was announced by FIFA president
Sepp Blatter at a media conference on
15 May 2004 in Zürich
.
South Africa was awarded the rights to host the tournament,
defeating Morocco and Egypt.
| Voting Results |
| Country |
Votes |
|
14 |
|
10 |
|
0 |
- withdrew on 8 May 2004 after joint bidding was not
allowed
- bid was rejected: bid did not meet the list of requirements
and joint bidding was not allowed
Qualification
As the host nation,
South Africa qualifies
automatically for the tournament. However, South Africa did
participate in World Cup qualifiers because the
CAF qualifiers also
serve as the qualifying tournament for the
2010 African Cup of Nations.
They were the first host since
1934 to participate in preliminary
qualifying. As happened in the
previous tournament, the defending
champions were not given an automatic berth, and
Italy had to participate in
qualification.
The
qualification draw for the 2010 World Cup was held in Durban, South
Africa
, on 25 November 2007.
List of qualified teams
The following 32 teams qualified for the final tournament.
- AFC
(4)
- CAF
(5+1)
- CONCACAF
(3)
- CONMEBOL
(5)
- OFC
(1)
- UEFA
(13)
This is the first World Cup with no debutant associations, although
two of the qualifiers (
Slovakia and
Serbia) have previously
appeared as parts of former competing nations. In both cases FIFA
considers these teams to have retained the earlier nations'
records.
FIFA threatened Chile with disqualification from the World Cup on
26 November 2009. Domestic club
Rangers attempted to get the
Chilean courts to annul their relegation from the
Primera División de Chile
because they fielded an ineligible player. FIFA disapproves of
government interference in football and ordered the
Chilean Football Federation to
resolve the dispute within 72 hours or face "appropriate
sanctions", including suspension. The following day, Rangers
dropped the case and accepted relegation, meaning Chile's place in
the World Cup is likely to be safe. The FIFA Executive Committee
will rule on the issue on 3 December 2009.
On 30 November 2009,
Republic of
Ireland asked to be included in the finals as a 33rd
competitor. The Irish believe their place in the finals was
unfairly denied by a
Thierry Henry
handball in extra time of the second leg of their qualification
playoff against
France. A previous request for
the match to be replayed was denied for contradicting Law 5 of the
Laws of the Game, which states that
any decision made by the referee is final and cannot be changed or
reviewed after the fact. FIFA President
Sepp Blatter promised the issue would be
discussed at the next meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee, on 3
December 2009. This request was rejected on 1 December 2009.
Mascot
Zakumi, the mascot of the 2010 FIFA
World Cup
The
official mascot for the
2010 FIFA World Cup is
Zakumi, an
anthropomorphised leopard with green hair. His name comes from "ZA",
the
international abbreviation
for South Africa, and "kumi", a word that means "ten" in various
African languages. The mascot's colours reflect those of the host
nation's playing strip – yellow and green.
Venues
In 2005,
the organisers released a provisional list of thirteen venues to be
used for the World Cup: Mangaung
/Bloemfontein
, Cape
Town, Durban
, Johannesburg
(two venues), Kimberley
, Nelspruit
, Orkney
, Polokwane
, Nelson Mandela Bay
/Port
Elizabeth
, Tshwane
/Pretoria
(two venues), and Rustenburg
. This was narrowed down to ten venues which
were officially announced by FIFA on 17 March 2006:
| Johannesburg |
Durban |
Cape
Town |
Johannesburg |
Pretoria |
Soccer City |
Moses Mabhida Stadium |
Cape Town Stadium |
Ellis Park Stadium |
Loftus Versfeld Stadium |
| Capacity: 94,900 |
Capacity: 70,000 |
Capacity: 69,070 |
Capacity: 62,567 |
Capacity: 51,760 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Port Elizabeth |
Bloemfontein |
Polokwane |
Nelspruit |
Rustenburg |
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium |
Free State Stadium |
Peter Mokaba Stadium |
Mbombela Stadium |
Royal Bafokeng Stadium |
| Capacity: 48,000 |
Capacity: 48,070 |
Capacity: 46,000 |
Capacity: 44,000 |
Capacity: 42,000 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
Preparations
Five new stadiums are to be built for the tournament (three new
match venues and two new practice grounds), and five of the
existing venues are to be upgraded. Construction costs are expected
to be R8.4bn.
In addition to the stadiums being built and upgraded, South Africa
is also planning to improve its current
public transport infrastructure within the
various cities, with projects such as the
Gautrain and the new Bus Rapid Transit system (BRT)
titled Rea Vaya.
Danny Jordaan, the
president of the 2010 World Cup organising committee has said that
he expects all stadiums for the tournament to be completed by
October 2009.
The country is also going to implement special measures to ensure
the safety and security of local and international tourists
attending the matches in accordance with standard FIFA
requirements.
Construction strike
70,000 construction workers who were supposed to be working on the
new stadiums walked off their jobs on
8 July
2009. The majority of the workers receive
R2500 per month (about
£192,
€224 or
$313), but the unions allege that some
workers are grossly underpaid – some receiving as little as R40
(£3.11) a week. A spokesperson for the National Union of
Mineworkers said to the
SABC that the "no
work no pay" strike will go on until FIFA assesses penalties on the
organisers. Other unions threatened to strike into 2011. The World
Cup organising committee downplayed the strike and expressed
confidence that the stadiums will be ready.
Relocation rumours
During 2006 to 2007, rumours circulated in various news sources
that the 2010 World Cup could be moved to another country. Some
people, including
Franz
Beckenbauer, Horst R.
Schmidt and, reportedly, some FIFA
executives,
expressed concern over the planning, organisation, and pace of
South Africa’s preparations. However, FIFA officials
repeatedly expressed their confidence in South Africa as host, and
stated that the event will not be moved, with FIFA president
Sepp Blatter re-iterating that "Plan
A... Plan B... Plan C is that the 2010 World Cup will be staged in
South Africa". Blatter stated that there is a contingency plan to
hold the World Cup elsewhere but only in the event of a natural
catastrophe, and that the
2006 FIFA
World Cup in Germany also had a similar contingency plan.
Despite reassurances by FIFA that the event would only be moved in
the case of natural catastrophe, rumours continued to circulate
about possible relocation of the event. These rumours were
criticised by South Africa's Deputy Finance Minister
Jabu Moleketi, saying that some have targeted
the event to reflect their persistent negativity towards South
Africa and Africa.
Controversies
As with many 'hallmark events' throughout the world, the 2010 FIFA
World Cup has been connected to evictions in South Africa which
many claim are meant to 'beautify the city', impress visiting
tourists, and hide shackdwellers. On 14 May 2009, Durban-based
shack-dwellers took the KwaZulu-Natal government to court over
their controversial
Elimination
and Prevention of Re-Emergence of Slums Act, meant to eliminate
slums in South Africa and put homeless shackdwellers in transit
camps in time for the 2010 World Cup. They have gained a lot of
publicity for their efforts even in the international media.
The most
prominent controversy surrounding preparations for the World Cup is
the N2 Gateway housing project in
Cape
Town, which plans to remove over 20,000 residents from
Joe Slovo Informal
Settlement along the busy N2 Freeway and build rental flats and
bond houses in its place in time for the 2010 World Cup. The
residents would be moved to the poverty stricken
Delft township on the outskirts of the city
and out of sight from the N2 Freeway.
In July 2009, South Africa was hit with rolling
protests by poor
communities who demanded access to basic services, jobs, adequate
housing and the democratisation of service delivery. These protests
have been linked to the World Cup as protesters complain that
public funds are being diverted away from social issues to build
stadiums and upgrade airports.
Group draw
The group
draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup will be staged in Cape Town, South Africa, at 19:00 (UTC+2) on 4 December 2009 at the Cape Town
International Convention Centre
.
Matches
All times are South
African Standard Time (UTC+2)
Group stage
In the following tables:
- Pld = total games played
- W = total games won
- D = total games drawn (tied)
- L = total games lost
- GF = total goals scored (goals for)
- GA = total goals conceded (goals against)
- GD = goal difference (GF−GA)
- Pts = total points accumulated
The teams placed first and second (shaded in green) qualified to
the round of 16.
Tie-breaking criteria
In world football, there are various methods used to separate teams
with equal points in a league. For the World Cup tournament, FIFA
uses the following system.
The ranking in each group is determined as
follows:
- greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;
- goal difference in all group matches;
- greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the
above three criteria, their rankings will be determined as
follows:
- greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between
the teams concerned;
- goal difference resulting from the group matches between the
teams concerned;
- greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the
teams concerned;
- drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee or play-off
depending on time schedule.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Knockout stage
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Third place play-off
Final
See also
References
- BBC and SABC report 70,000 while the AP, quoting the South
African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors, says
11,000
- ESPNsoccernet - World - FIFA exploring 3 alternate
2010 World Cup hosts
- Guardian: World Cup 2010: football brings defining
moment for South Africa, 12 June 2009
-
http://www.capetownmagazine.com/articles/Sport-a-Fifa-2010~c9/Group-Matches-Group-C~1050
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