2010 Fifa World Cup - South Africa
On the 11th June 2010 South Africa will host the 19th Fifa World Cup and in doing so will be the first African nation to ever stage this prestigious competition.
Once again 32 football teams will battle it out to be the best national football team in the world and for the first time in a while Brazil will not go into the competition as outright favourites as that honour goes to Spain this time following their dominance at the 2008 European Football Championship and their easy passage through the World Cup qualifying stages. However as recent World Cups have shown many so-called 'minnow' teams are stronger than ever and have players who play at the highest level around the world. Nothing can be taken for granted and once the competition reaches the knockout stages then anything is possible.
The draw for the World Cup competition took place on 2nd December 2009, placing the 32 teams into 8 cup groups of 4 teams. 9 cities will host the 2010 Fifa World Cup: Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg - Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg - Soccer City, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, and Rustenburg.
Traditionally each competition has had an official mascot and South Africa 2010 will feature it's very own in the form of Zakumi the leopard with green hair. His name breaks down into two parts ZA and kumi. ZA is the abbreviation for South Africa and kumi means ten in several African languages.
In television terms the Fifa World Cup is number one when it comes to viewing figures. With 196 countries tuning in and an average of 314 million worldwide viewers per match excitement will grow rapidly the closer we get to June 2010. So stick around, read about the football teams taking part, key players, the hot world cup fixtures, and start planning your 2010 Fifa World Cup now whether you're going or watching from home.
Get your free World Cup 2010 spreadsheet planner and make sure you're ahead with the fixtures and results. Make it part of your office sweepstake to see who your team is going to face in the next rounds or use it to make some predictions on the likely finalists. Download your free 2010 World Cup Planner now
