The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th FIFA World Cup, an international tournament for football, that is scheduled to take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa. It will be the first time that the tournament has been hosted by a nation in the Confederation of African Football, leaving the Oceania Football Confederation as the only FIFA Confederation never to have hosted the event.
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.[1]
As the host nation, South Africa qualifies automatically for the tournament. However, South Africa is the first host since 1934 to participate in World Cup qualifiers. This is because the CAF qualifiers also serve as the qualifying tournament for the 2010 African Cup of Nations, for which South Africa had to qualify separately. Like the previous tournament, the defending champions Italy do not qualify automatically.
File:Zakumi.jpgZakumi, the mascot of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
The official mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is Zakumi, a 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.[3] The mascot's colours reflect those of the host nation's playing strip - yellow and green.
Template:Future infrastructure
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.[5]
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.[6]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.[7]
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.[8]
Relocation rumours
During 2006 to 2007, rumours circulated in various news sources that the 2010 World Cup could be moved to another country.[9][10] 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.[9][11] 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".[12][13] 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 World Cup in Germany also had a similar contingency plan.[13][14][15]
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.[16] 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.[17]
Controversies
As with many 'hallmark events' throughout the world,[18] the 2010 FIFA World Cup has been connected to a large number of evictions in South Africa[19] which many claim are meant to 'beautify the city', impress visiting tourists, and hide shackdwellers. On 14 May, 2009, Durban-based shackdwellers 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.[20][21]
The most prominent controversy surrounding preparations for the World Cup is the N2 Gateway housing project 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.[22] 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.[23][24][25]
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.[26]
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;
Egypt
Libya / 
Tunisia (co-hosting)
Morocco
South Africa
South Africa
Morocco
Egypt
Australia
Japan
South Korea
Netherlands
A2
