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...

Zakumi, a green haired leopard, was introduced to the world on MON 22 SEP 2008 as the mascot for the 2010 Men’s World Cup. Zakumi performed a dance number and kicked about with former South Africa player Mark Fish on a live South African football programme. Designed by Cape Town’s Andries Odendaal, his name is comprised of “za”, South Africa’s top level domain name, and “kumi”, meaning ten in a number of African languages.

A quick summary of action around the CAF second round on the weekend of FRI 13-SUN 15 JUN 2008. more...

The draw for the 2010 Men’s World Cup qualifiers took place in Durban, South Africa on SUN 25 NOV 2007. Here are some of the highlights: more...

The footballing world is descending upon Durban, South Africa for the draw for the 2010 Men’s World Cup qualifiers. Five Asian, twelve North American, nine European, and twelve African groups will be drawn in the festivities, which start at 15:00 UTC on SUN 25 NOV 2007. The CONMEBOL group phase and OFC final round are already underway and do not require draws. Below are listed the top seeded teams in each of the other confederations. more...

The pairings for the first round of CAF qualifying for the 2010 Men’s World Cup have been drawn, and new FIFA members Comoros will play their first qualifiers against Indian Ocean neighbours Madagascar. The five winners will progress to the CAF second round, where the 43 other CAF members await. The tournament also serves as qualifiers for the 2010 African Nations Cup; therefore, South Africa, hosts and automatic qualifiers, are participating. Should Bafana Bafana win a third round group, another team, using criteria still to be decided, will take the last World Cup place. more...