Every four years, 32 of the worlds best soccer teams get together for the World Cup of Soccer. In an attempt to make it possible for more fans to attend soccer’s biggest event a different country hosts the World Cup. South Africa was lucky enough to have the winning bid for the 2010 World Cup of Soccer.
Hosting the World Cup of Soccer
Hosting the World Cup of Soccer is a really big deal. Large sporting events, like the World Cup, do two things. The first perk to hosting the World Cup is that the eyes of every soccer player in the world are going to be on South Africa, providing an excellent way to educate people about the country, and also encouraging future tourism. The second and most immediate advantage to hosting the World Cup is an immediate boost to the countries income. Events like the World Cup draw thousand of tourist who will spend large sums of money while they are watching the soccer matches.
The really neat thing about the World Cup of soccer is that it isn’t just held in one place. The soccer matches are spread out over nine different South African cities and will be held in a total of ten different venues, five of the venues are brand new and were built special for the World Cup. The cities that will be welcoming soccer fans include Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg, Nelspruit, Tshwane/Pretoria, Durban, Mangaung/Bloemfontein, Polokwane, and Rustenburg. None of the cities are more than three hours apart from the other. The South African government has gone to great lengths to make sure that the rail lines and roads are in great shape, so commuting from one event to the next should be no problem. An airport is located near or in each of hosting cities.
Qualifying for the World Cup of Soccer
Attending the World Cup of Soccer provides soccer fans with the rare opportunity to see the best soccer teams in the world play one another. The teams competing in South Africa have worked hard to get there. When the qualifications for the World Cup started in August of 2007, 204 teams were eligible for a chance to compete at the World Cup. Only one team, the team from South Africa, was guaranteed a slot.
For more than two years teams all over the world, met competing for one of the thirty-one remaining slots. The last qualifying round was played on November 19, 2009. More 2337 goals were scored during the 848 qualifying matches.
The teams that will be playing in South Africa include teams from
l Algeria
l Argentina
l Australia
l Brazil
l Cameroon
l Chile
l Denmark
l England
l France
l Germany
l Ghana
l Greece
l Italy
l Honduras
l Ivory Coast
l Japan
l Mexico
l New Zealand
l Netherlands
l Nigeria
l North Korea
l Paraguay
l Portugal
l Serbia
l Slovakia
l Slovenia
l South Africa
l South Korea
l Spain
l Switzerland
l United States
l Uruguay
The defending champion from the 2006 World Cup of Soccer is the team from Italy. The teams competing in the 2010 World Cup Odds have been divided by region. Each of the regions will play until there is a regional championship. Each of the regional champions will play one another until a champion is declared.