The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. The bidding process for hosting the tournament finals was open only to African nations; in 2004, the international football federation, FIFA, selected South Africa over Egypt and Morocco to become the first African nation to host the finals.
The matches were played in ten stadiums in nine host cities around the country, with the final played at the Soccer City stadium in South Africa's largest city, Johannesburg. Thirty-two teams were selected for participation via a worldwide qualification tournament that began in August 2007. In the first round of the tournament finals, the teams competed in round-robin groups of four teams for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding. These sixteen teams advanced to the knockout stage, where three rounds of play decided which teams would participate in the final.
In the final, Spain, the European champions, defeated third-time finalists the Netherlands 1–0 after extra time, with Andrés Iniesta's goal in the 116th minute giving Spain their first world title, the first time that a European nation has won the tournament outside its home continent. Host nation South Africa, 2006 world champions Italy and 2006 runners-up France were eliminated in the first round of the tournament.
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Host selection
Main article: FIFA World Cup hosts#2010 FIFA World Cup
Africa was chosen as the host for the 2010 World Cup as part of a short-lived policy, abandoned in 2007,[3] to rotate the event among football confederations. Five African nations placed bids to host the 2010 World Cup: Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and a joint bid from Libya and Tunisia.
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.
The winning bid was announced by FIFA president Sepp Blatter at a media conference on 15 May 2004 in Zürich; in the first round of voting South Africa received 14 votes, Morocco received 10 votes and Egypt no votes. South Africa, which had narrowly failed to win the right to host the 2006 event, was thus awarded the right to host the tournament.[4]
During 2006 and 2007, rumours circulated in various news sources that the 2010 World Cup could be moved to another country.[5][6] Franz Beckenbauer, Horst R. Schmidt and, reportedly, some FIFA executives, expressed concern over the planning, organisation, and pace of South Africa's preparations.[5][7] FIFA officials repeatedly expressed their confidence in South Africa as host, stating that a contingency plan existed only to cover natural catastrophes, as had been in place at previous FIFA World Cups.[8]
Qualification
Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
The qualification draw for the 2010 World Cup was held in Durban on 25 November 2007. As the host nation, South Africa qualified automatically for the tournament. As happened in the previous tournament, the defending champions were not given an automatic berth, andItaly had to participate in qualification. With a pool of entrants comprising 204 of the 208 FIFA national teams at the time, the 2010 World Cup shares with the 2008 Summer Olympics the record for most competing nations in a sporting event.
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Some controversies took place during the qualifications. In the second leg of the play-off between France and the Republic of Ireland, French captain Thierry Henry, unseen by the referee, handled the ball in the lead up to a late goal, which enabled France to qualify ahead of Ireland, sparking widespread controversy and debate. FIFA rejected a request from the Football Association of Ireland to replay the match,[9] and Ireland later withdrew a request to be included as an unprecedented 33rd World Cup entrant.[10][11] As a result, FIFA announced a review into the use of technology or extra officials at the highest level, but decided against the widely expected fast-tracking of goal-line referee's assistants for the South African tournament.[12]
Costa Rica complained over Uruguay's winning goal in the CONMEBOL–CONCACAF playoff,[13] while Egypt and Algeria's November 2009 matches were surrounded by reports of crowd trouble. On the subject of fair play, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said:
I appeal to all the players and coaches to observe this fair play. In 2010 we want to prove that football is more than just kicking a ball but has social and cultural value ... So we ask the players 'please observe fair play' so they will be an example to the rest of the world.[14]
The 2010 tournament was the first World Cup not to feature any team making its debut appearance (Slovakia had not previously appeared under that name, but is considered by FIFA to be a continuation of the Czechoslovakia team that last played in the 1990 tournament). North Korea qualified for the first time since 1966; Honduras and New Zealand were both making their first appearances since 1982, and Algeria were at the Finals for the first time since the 1986 competition.
List of qualified teams
The following 32 teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings,[15] qualified for the final tournament.
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Preparations
Five new stadiums were built for the tournament, and five of the existing venues were upgraded. Construction costs were expected to be R8.4 billion (just over US$1 billion.).[16]
South Africa also improved its public transport infrastructure within the host cities, including Johannesburg's Gautrain and other metro systems, and major road networks were improved.[17] In March 2009, Danny Jordaan, the president of the 2010 World Cup organising committee, reported that all stadiums for the tournament were on schedule to be completed within six months.[18]
The country implemented special measures to ensure the safety and security of spectators in accordance with standard FIFA requirements,[19] including a temporary restriction of flight operation in the airspace surrounding the stadiums.[20]
At a ceremony to mark 100 days before the event, FIFA president Sepp Blatter praised the readiness of the country for the event.[21]
Construction strike
On 8 July 2009, 70,000 construction workers[22] who were working on the new stadiums walked off their jobs.[23] The majority of the workers receive R2500 per month (about £192, €224 or US$313), but the unions alleged that some workers were grossly underpaid. A spokesperson for the National Union of Mineworkers said to the SABC that the "no work no pay" strike would go on until FIFA assessed penalties on the organisers. Other unions threatened to strike into 2011.[24][25] The strike was swiftly dealt with and workers were back at work within a week of it starting. There were no further strikes and all stadiums and construction projects were completed in time for the kick off.[26]
Prize money
The total prize money on offer for the tournament was confirmed by FIFA as US$420 million (including payments of US$40m to domestic clubs), a 60 percent increase on the 2006 tournament.[27] Before the tournament, each of the 32 entrants receive US$1 million for preparation costs. Once at the tournament, the prize money would be distributed as follows:[27]
- US$8 million – To each team exiting after the group stage (16 teams)
- US$9 million – To each team exiting after the round of 16 (8 teams)
- US$14 million – To each team exiting after the quarter-finals (4 teams)
- US$18 million – Fourth placed team
- US$20 million – Third placed team
- US$24 million – Runner up
- US$30 million – Winner
In a first for the World Cup, FIFA made payments to the domestic clubs of the players representing their national teams at the tournament. This saw a total of US$40 million}} paid to domestic clubs. This was the result of an agreement reached in 2008 between FIFA and European clubs to disband the G-14 group and drop their claims for compensation dating back to 2005 over the financial cost of injuries sustained to their players while on international duty, such as that from Belgian club Charleroi S.C. for injury to Morocco's Abdelmajid Oulmers in a friendly game in 2004, and from English club Newcastle United for an injury to England's Michael Owen in the 2006 World Cup.[28][29][30]
Venues
In 2005, the organisers released a provisional list of thirteen venues to be used for the World Cup: Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg (two venues), Kimberley, Klerksdorp,Nelspruit, Orkney, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, and Rustenburg. This was narrowed down to the ten venues[31] that were officially announced by FIFA on 17 March 2006.
The altitude of several venues affected the motion of the ball[32] and player performance,[33][34] although FIFA's medical chief downplayed this consideration.[35] Six of the ten venues were over 1200m above sea level, with the two Johannesburg stadiums (Soccer City and Ellis Park) the highest at approximately 1750m.[36][37] The stadiums in order of altitude are: Soccer City and Ellis Park Stadium, 1753m; Royal Bafokeng Stadium, 1500m; Free State Stadium, 1400m; Peter Mokaba Stadium, 1310m; Loftus Versfeld Stadium, 1214m; Mbombela Stadium, 660m; Cape Town Stadium, Moses Mabhida Stadium and Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium near sea level.[36][37]
| Johannesburg | Cape Town | Durban | Johannesburg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soccer City1[38] | Cape Town Stadium2 | Moses Mabhida Stadium3 | Ellis Park Stadium |
| 26°14′5.27″S 27°58′56.47″E | 33°54′12.46″S 18°24′40.15″E | 29°49′46″S 31°01′49″E | 26°11′51.07″S 28°3′38.76″E |
| Capacity: 84,490 | Capacity: 64,100 | Capacity: 62,760 | Capacity: 55,686 |
 |  |  |  |
| Pretoria | Port Elizabeth | ||
| Loftus Versfeld Stadium | Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium | ||
| 25°45′12″S 28°13′22″E | 33°56′16″S 25°35′56″E | ||
| Capacity: 42,858 | Capacity: 42,486 | ||
 |  | ||
| Polokwane | Nelspruit | Bloemfontein | Rustenburg |
| 23°55′29″S 29°28′08″E | 25°27′42″S 30°55′47″E | 29°07′02.25″S 26°12′31.85″E | 25°34′43″S 27°09′39″E |
| Peter Mokaba Stadium | Mbombela Stadium | Free State Stadium | Royal Bafokeng Stadium |
| Capacity: 41,733 | Capacity: 40,929 | Capacity: 40,911 | Capacity: 38,646 |
 |  |  |  |
The following stadiums were all upgraded to meet FIFA specifications:
Final draw
See also: 2010 FIFA World Cup seeding
The FIFA Organising Committee approved the procedure for the final draw on 2 December 2009. The seeding was based on the October 2009 FIFA World Ranking and seven squads joined hosts South Africa as seeded teams for the final draw. No two teams from the same confederation were to be drawn in the same group, except allowing a maximum of two European teams in a group.[43]
- Pot 1 (Seeds: host & top seven):
- South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England
- Pot 2 (Asia, North/Central America and Caribbean & Oceania):
- Australia, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Honduras, Mexico, United States, New Zealand
- Pot 3 (Africa & South America):
- Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
- Pot 4 (Europe):
- Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland
The group draw was staged in Cape Town, South Africa, on 4 December 2009 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.[44] The ceremony was presented by South African actress Charlize Theron, assisted by FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke.[45] The balls were drawn by English football star David Beckham and African sporting figures Haile Gebrselassie, John Smit, Makhaya Ntini, Matthew Booth and Simphiwe Dludlu.[46]
Referees
Main articles: 2010 FIFA World Cup officials and 2010 FIFA World Cup controversies#Refereeing
FIFA's Referees' Committee selected 29 referees through its Refereeing Assistance Programme to officiate at the World Cup: four from theAFC, three from the CAF, six from CONMEBOL, four from CONCACAF, two from the OFC and ten from UEFA.[47] English referee Howard Webb was chosen to referee the final, making him the first person to referee both the UEFA Champions League final and the World Cup final in the same year.[48]
Squads
For more details on this topic, see 2010 FIFA World Cup squads.
As with the 2006 tournament, each team's squad for the 2010 World Cup consisted of 23 players. Each participating national association had to confirm their final 23-player squad by 1 June 2010. Teams were permitted to make late replacements in the event of serious injury, at any time up to 24 hours before their first game.[49]
Of the 736 players participating in the tournament, over half played their club football in five European domestic leagues; those in England (117 players), Germany (84), Italy (80), Spain (59) and France (46).[50] The English, German and Italian squads were made up of entirely home based players, while only Nigeria had no players from clubs in their own league. In all, players from 52 national leagues entered the tournament. FC Barcelona of Spain was the club contributing the most players to the tournament, with 13 players of their side travelling, 7 with the Spanish team, while another 7 clubs contributed 10 players or more.
In another first for South Africa 2010, one squad included three siblings. Jerry, Jhony and Wilson Palacios made history thanks to their inclusion in Honduras’ 23-man list.[51]
Group stage
The first round, or group stage, saw the thirty-two teams divided into eight groups of four teams. Each group was a round-robin of six games, where each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same group. Teams were awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a defeat. The teams finishing first and second in each group qualified for the Round of 16.
The South American teams performed strongly, with all five advancing to the knockout stages (four as group winners). The overall performance of African teams on the first occasion that the continent hosted the event was judged disappointing by observers such as Cameroon great Roger Milla.[52] Of the six African nations only three won any matches, and only one (Ghana) progressed out of the first round.
Only six out of thirteen UEFA teams progressed to the last sixteen, a record low since the round of 16 was adopted in 1986.[51] Both of the finalists from the preceding tournament, France and Italy, were eliminated in the initial stage of the competition, the first time this has happened at a World Cup.[53] New Zealand ended the tournament as the only undefeated team after drawing their three group matches, but they finished behind Paraguay and Slovakia and were eliminated.
- Tie-breaking criteria
Teams were ranked on the following criteria:[54]
- 1. Greater number of points in all group matches
- 2. Goal difference in all group matches
- 3. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
- 4. Greatest number of points in matches between teams
- 5. Goal difference in matches between teams
- 6. Greatest number of goals scored in matches between teams
- 7. Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee
| Key to colours in group tables | |
|---|---|
| Teams that advanced to the round of 16 | |
Group A
Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Group A
Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Uruguay | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 7 |
 Mexico | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 4 |
 South Africa | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 4 |
 France | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 1 |
| 11 June 2010 | |||
| South Africa | 1 – 1 | Mexico | Soccer City, Johannesburg |
| Uruguay | 0 – 0 | France | Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town |
| 16 June 2010 | |||
| South Africa | 0 – 3 | Uruguay | Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria |
| 17 June 2010 | |||
| France | 0 – 2 | Mexico | Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane |
| 22 June 2010 | |||
| Mexico | 0 – 1 | Uruguay | Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg |
| France | 1 – 2 | South Africa | Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein |
Group B
Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Group B
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Group C
Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Group C
|
| 12 June 2010 | |||
England  | 1 – 1 |  United States | Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg |
| 13 June 2010 | |||
Algeria  | 0 – 1 |  Slovenia | Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane |
| 18 June 2010 | |||
| Slovenia | 2 – 2 | United States | Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg |
| England | 0 – 0 | Algeria | Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town |
| 23 June 2010 | |||
| Slovenia | 0 – 1 | England | Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth |
| United States | 1 – 0 | Algeria | Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria |
Group D
Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Group D
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| 13 June 2010 | |||
Serbia  | 0 – 1 |  Ghana | Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria |
Germany  | 4 – 0 |  Australia | Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban |
| 18 June 2010 | |||
| Germany | 0 – 1 | Serbia | Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth |
| 19 June 2010 | |||
| Ghana | 1 – 1 | Australia | Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg |
| 23 June 2010 | |||
| Ghana | 0 – 1 | Germany | Soccer City, Johannesburg |
| Australia | 2 – 1 | Serbia | Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit |
Group E
Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Group E
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Group F
Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Group F
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| 14 June 2010 | |||
Italy  | 1 – 1 |  Paraguay | Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town |
| 15 June 2010 | |||
New Zealand  | 1 – 1 |  Slovakia | Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg |
| 20 June 2010 | |||
| Slovakia | 0 – 2 | Paraguay | Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein |
| Italy | 1 – 1 | New Zealand | Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit |
| 24 June 2010 | |||
| Slovakia | 3 – 2 | Italy | Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg |
| Paraguay | 0 – 0 | New Zealand | Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane |
Group G
Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Group G
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| 15 June 2010 | |||
Côte d'Ivoire  | 0 – 0 |  Portugal | Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth |
Brazil  | 2 – 1 |  North Korea | Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg |
| 20 June 2010 | |||
| Brazil | 3 – 1 | Côte d'Ivoire | Soccer City, Johannesburg |
| 21 June 2010 | |||
| Portugal | 7 – 0 | North Korea | Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town |
| 25 June 2010 | |||
| Portugal | 0 – 0 | Brazil | Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban |
| North Korea | 0 – 3 | Côte d'Ivoire | Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit |
Group H
Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Group H
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