2010 FIFA World Cup

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2010 FIFA World Cup - South Africa FIFA World Cup - South Africa 2010
Official logo, unveiled on 7 July 2006
Host	South Africa

The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th FIFA World Cup, an international tournament for association football, that is scheduled to take place in South Africa. This will be the first time that the tournament has been held on the African continent.

1 Host selection
2 Teams
3 Venues
4 Preparations
5 Rumours of tournament being moved
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Host selection

Main article: FIFA World Cup hosts

Africa was chosen as the host for the 2010 World Cup as part of a new policy to rotate the event between football federations. Five African nations placed bids to host the 2010 World Cup:

Egypt
Libya (to co-host with Tunisia)
Morocco
South Africa
Tunisia (to co-host with Libya)

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 May 15, 2004 in Zurich. South Africa was awarded the rights to host the tournament, defeating Morocco and Egypt.^[1]

Results:

South Africa, 14 votes
Morocco, 10 votes
Egypt, 0 votes
~~Tunisia~~ withdrew on May 8, 2004 after joint bidding was not allowed
~~Libya~~ not considered. bid did not meet the List of Requirements

[edit] Teams

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Most Confederations have yet to start the qualification process for the 2010 World Cup. As the host nation, South Africa qualifies automatically.

[edit] Africa (CAF)

South Africa (Host Nation)

An unknown number of other places will be given to the Confederation of African Football. The Confederation has received 5 places in each of the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups.

[edit] Asia (AFC)

An unknown number of places will be awarded to the Asian Football Confederation. The AFC received 3.5 places in 1998 and 4.5 places in 2002 and 2006.

[edit] South America (CONMEBOL)

An unknown number of places will be granted to CONMEBOL. Previously the confederation has received 5 places in 1998 and 4.5 places in 2002 and 2006.

[edit] Oceania (OFC)

An unknown number of places will be assigned for the Oceania Football Confederation. The confederation has received 0.5 places in the last three World Cups.

[edit] Europe (UEFA)

An unknown number of places will be award to UEFA. The confederation received 15 places in 1998, 14.5 places in 2002 and 14 places in 2006.

[edit] North America, Central America & Caribbean (CONCACAF)

An unknown number of places will be assigned to CONCACAF. Previously they have received 3 places in 1998 and 2002, and 3.5 places in 2006.

[edit] Venues

In 2005, the organizers released a provisional list of thirteen venues to be used for the World Cup: Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg (two), Kimberley, Nelspruit, Orkney, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria (two), and Rustenburg. This was narrowed down to ten venues, which was officially announced on 17 March 2006 by FIFA:

City	Stadium	Capacity
Johannesburg	Soccer City (to be upgraded)	94,700
Durban	King Senzangakhona Stadium (to be built)	70,000
Cape Town	African Renaissance Stadium (to be built)	68,000
Johannesburg	Ellis Park Stadium (to be upgraded)	60,000
Pretoria	Loftus Versfeld Stadium	50,000
Port Elizabeth	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (to be built)	50,000
Polokwane	Peter Mokaba Stadium (to be upgraded)	45,000
Bloemfontein	Free State Stadium (to be upgraded)	40,000
Rustenburg	Royal Bafokeng Stadium	40,000
Nelspruit	Mbombela Stadium (to be built)	40,000

[edit] Preparations

Five new stadiums are to be built for the tournament (three match venues and two practice grounds), and five of the existing venues are to be upgraded. Construction costs are expected to be R8.4bn.^[2]

Also, South African giant club, Kaizer Chiefs plan to build a new stadium called the Amakhosi Stadium that might be used at the world cup.

In addition to the stadia being built and upgraded, South Africa is also planning to improve its current public transport infrastructure, and implement special measures to ensure the safety and security of local and international tourists attending the matches in accordance with standard FIFA requirements.^[3]

[edit] Rumours of tournament being moved

On July 12, 2006 The Guardian relayed reports by the German news agency SID that FIFA executives were concerned about the pace of South Africa's preparations and would consider moving the tournament to the United States or re-stage it in Germany if preparations fell behind.^[4] Rumours were also circulated that the event may be moved to Australia.^[5] Franz Beckenbauer (chairman of Germany's successful bid to organize the 2006 FIFA World Cup) and Horst R. Schmidt (general secretary of the German Football Association), have publically acknowledged their concerns regarding the planning and political will of South Africa to host the event.^[6] FIFA officials have consistently denied having any contingency plans to move the tournament, with president Sepp Blatter re-iterating that "Plan A... Plan B... Plan C is that the 2010 World Cup will be staged in South Africa".^[7]