World Cup 2010

On the 11th of June eyes will turn to South Africa in anticipation of the 19th FIFA World Cup, the most prestigious international event in the football calendar. Thirty two teams will go head to head in the ultimate battle to take the title of the world’s greatest national team.

The 2010 World Cup will be the first time the tournament has been held in an African nation.

The defending champions Italy, who beat France in the 2006 final in Germany, will be amongst 13 teams from Europe.

The tournament will be structured with eight groups made up of four teams competing in the initial group stages. Each team will play every other team within their group once, with the results forming a mini league table. The top two teams from each group will then progress to the knock out stages which will consist of four rounds, ending in the grand final held in Johannesburg on the 11th of July.

Here’s a quick reminder of the qualifying groups…
 
• Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
• Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Republic of Korea (South), Greece
• Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
• Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
• Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
• Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
• Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR (North), Ivory Coast, Portugal
• Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Chile, Honduras