The official website for European football
Accessible version
 
More results
search
The official website for European football

2010 FIFA World Cup

The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be held in South Africa, kicking off on 11 June and concluding with the final at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg on 11 July 2010.
2010 FIFA World Cup
'See you in South Africa' banner at the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals ©Getty Images

2010 FIFA World Cup

The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be held in South Africa, kicking off on 11 June and concluding with the final at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg on 11 July 2010.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be held in South Africa, kicking off on 11 June and concluding with the final at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg on 11 July 2010.

Ten venues
A total of 32 teams will compete at the finals over ten venues: Soccer City and Ellis Park in Johannesburg, Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, the Free State Stadium in Mangaung/Bloemfontein, the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, the Durban Stadium in Durban, the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, the Port Elizabeth Stadium in Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth and the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Tshwane/Pretoria.

International breakdown
Of the teams competing in the final tournament, 13 will be from Europe – the nine winners of the qualifying groups and the winners of the four play-offs between the eight best runners-up from the nine groups. They will be joined by six teams from Africa – including the hosts – eight from North, South and Central America and a further five from Asia and Oceania.

http://www.uefa.com/worldcup/season=2010/finals/index.html#2010+fifa+world+cup

Road to the final

European qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup consists of a group stage and a play-off round, providing 13 UEFA member nations for the 32-team final tournament in Brazil.

Qualifying group stage
Matches will take place between 7 September 2012 and 15 October 2013 with eight groups of six teams and one of five. The nine group winners qualify directly for the finals and the eight runners-up with the best record against the teams finishing first, third, fourth and fifth in their section going into the play-offs.

Play-offs
The eight teams will be drawn into four pairings for two-legged ties played from 15 to 19 November 2013. If scores are level after the second leg the team with the most away goals qualify, whether after 90 minutes or extra time. The four winners qualify for the finals.

Final tournament
The allocation for other confederations is: Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 4.5, Confederation of African Football (CAF) 5.0, Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) 3.5, South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) 4.5, Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) 0.5, and one slot for the hosts Brazil. The teams will be drawn into eight groups of four with the top two going into the knockout phase.


Further details, including the criteria for separating teams that finish level on points in a group, or after extra time in a match, can be found in the
official competition regulations.

  • © 1998-2012 UEFA. All rights reserved.
  • The UEFA word, the UEFA logo and all marks related to UEFA competitions, are protected by trade marks and/or copyright of UEFA. No use for commercial purposes may be made of such trade marks. Use of UEFA.com signifies your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.