The Golden Boot award at the 2010 Men’s World Cup will be decided on the last day, as the joint leaders after the semifinals, Spain’s David VILLA and the Netherlands’ Wesley SNEIJDER, are expected to compete in the final match. Both have scored five goals and have one assist, but Villa is the current leader, having reached his mark in just 529 minutes played compared with Sneijder’s 532. Nonetheless, the possibility exists of another player passing both, as Germany’s Thomas MÜLLER and Miroslav KLOSE and Uruguay’s Diego FORLÁN and Luis SUÁREZ are all expected to play in the third place match. Suárez has scored three goals, whilst Müller, Klose, and Forlán have each scored four. Müller has also recorded three assists, Klose and Suárez one. In case of a tie in goals scored, preference is given to the player with more assists, and then to the player who recorded fewer minutes. [Sneijder’s total includes both goals in the Netherlands’ 2-1 quarterfinal win over Brazil; his first goal was initially ruled an own goal.]

The draw for the final tournament of the 2010 Men’s World Cup was kind to the defending finalists, but not the losing semifinalists. 2006 champions Italy face Paraguay, New Zealand, and first time qualifiers Slovakia in Group F, whilst France, who fell to the Azzurri in the 2006 final, were drawn against hosts South Africa, Mexico, and Uruguay in Group A. The Group of Death is widely considered to be Group G, which contains Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d’Ivoire, and Portugal. The tournament’s opening match will be South Africa-Mexico at Johannesburg’s new Soccer City stadium on FRI 11 JUN 2010. more...

FIFA have settled on the pots, seedings, and draw procedure for the 2010 Men’s World Cup final tournament. The top seeds include hosts South Africa and the top seven teams in the FIFA world rankings of OCT 2009, who occupy Pot 1. Pot 2 contains the teams from the AFC, CONCACAF, and the OFC. Pot 3 holds the remaining teams from CAF and CONMEBOL, whilst Pot 4 contains the remaining UEFA teams. Each group will receive one team from each pot, and no group may contain more than two UEFA teams or more than one team from any other confederation. The draw begins at 17:00 UTC on FRI 04 DEC 2009 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. more...

A quick summary of action around CONMEBOL on WED 14 OCT 2009. more...

A quick summary of action around CONMEBOL on WED 09 SEP 2009. more...

A quick summary of action around CONMEBOL on SAT 05 SEP 2009. more...

A quick summary of action around CONMEBOL on WED 10 JUN 2009. more...

A quick summary of action around CONMEBOL on the weekend of SAT 06-SUN 07 JUN 2009. more...

A quick summary of action around CONMEBOL on the weekend of SAT 28-SUN 29 MAR 2009. more...

A quick summary of action around CONMEBOL on TUE 14-WED 15 OCT 2008. more...

A quick summary of action around CONMEBOL on TUE 09-WED 10 SEP 2008. more...

FIFA have ruled that although Qatar fielded an ineligible player in their match against Iraq on SUN 22 JUN 2008, Iraq’s protest was not filed in time. The result, a 1-0 win for Qatar that eliminated Iraq from AFC third round Group 1, will therefore stand. However, FIFA also announced that EMERSON can no longer play for Qatar, since he represented Brazil at youth level. According to the regulations of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, protests regarding eligibility of players must be submitted to FIFA at least 24 hours before the match kicks off.

A quick summary of action around CONMEBOL on TUE 17-THU 19 JUN 2008. more...

A quick summary of action around CONMEBOL on the weekend of SAT 14-SUN 15 JUN 2008. more...

A quick summary of action around CONMEBOL on the weekend of SAT 17-SUN 18 NOV 2007. more...

Perhaps the least controversial host selection in FIFA’s history occurred on TUE 30 OCT 2007 as Brazil were chosen as the venue for the 2014 Men’s World Cup. Under the system of continental rotation, it was CONMEBOL’s turn to host, and for some time Brazil had been the front runner; a bid from Colombia was withdrawn. FIFA also decided to stop the continental rotation policy and instead plans to introduce a new rule stating that a country cannot bid for a Men’s World Cup if its confederation hosted one of the previous two.