The 19^th FIFA world cup will be held in South Africa between 11^th June and 11^th July 2010. An African Continent will be hosting the prestigious tournament for the first time. Last year Italy won the world cup as a result this year they are the defending champions and have been qualified for this year’s world cup tournament.

Mascot:

 This year FIFA has created a cool mascot named Zakumi. This name is derived from ‘ZA’ which is the international abbreviation for South Africa and ‘kumi’ which means ten’ in various African languages. Zakumi is a leopard with green hair. The mascot’s colours reflect those of the host nation’s playing strip – yellow and green.

Venue:

The ten venues which have been announced by FIFA are:

The country is building 5 new stadiums out of which 3 are the stadiums which are included in the venue and the other 2 are practice ground. And the other stadiums are being upgraded. Moreover the country is also increasing the quality of public transport system. New busses and trains are made.

According to the FIFA management the stadium work is supposed to get over by the end of November. The country is also increasing the strength of the security system to ensure the safety of the people.

World Cup Qualifiers:

The first 2010 FIFA world cup qualifying round was played on 25 August 2007. Totally there were 204 teams which were selected to play the qualifying matches. Out of which South Africa being the host were automatically qualified.

The other teams which are qualified as per now are: