World Cup History World Cup 2010 WC 2010 Qualifying Format
World Cup 2010 Qualifying Format
32 countries will compete at the 2010 World Cup with the goal of winning the ultimate prize in world soccer. The competition will be held from June 11th - July 11th 2010 in South Africa and will be played in nine different cities -- Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Mangaung/Bloemfontein, Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Rustenburg, Tshwane/Pretoria.
Qualifying rounds that run from 2007-2009 take the 204 member associations (countries) of FIFA down to the 32 that will compete at the World Cup. The six continental confederations are allotted a certain number of places at the World Cup and they each devise a qualifying method to award those places.
Six Continental Confederations:
Africa
Asia
Europe
North, Central America and Caribbean
Oceania
South America
Africa
53 teams, 5 +1 places
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A preliminary round in October/November 2007 eliminated five teams to get to the 48 teams that contested the second stage. Those 48 teams were drawn into 12 groups of four teams. The 12 group winners and the eight best runner-ups advanced into the third stage. This third stage, which will begin in March 2009, consists of 20 teams drawn into five groups of four teams. The five group winners will advance to the World Cup, along with South Africa who qualified by virtue of being the host nation.
Asia
43 teams, 4.5 places
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There are three preliminary qualifying rounds to eliminate 33 of the 43 teams. The remaining ten Asian teams then compete in the fourth round of qualifying, which consists of two groups of five teams. Each group plays a home-and-away round robin format and the two group winners and the two group runners-up will qualify for the World Cup. The third-placed teams from each group will play a home-and-away play-off series, with the winner advancing to play the winner of the Oceania confederation (New Zealand) for a spot at the World Cup.
Europe
53 teams, 13 places
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The European qualifiers began in August 2008, with 53 teams playing in nine groups. Eight of those groups consist of six teams and the ninth contains five teams. Each team plays every other team in the group twice (home-and-away) and at the end of that round robin the nine group winners are awarded spots at the World Cup. The eight best runners-up are then paired into four home-and-away series and the winners of each series are awarded the final four European qualifying places.
North, Central America and Caribbean
35 teams, 3.5 places
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Three preliminary rounds of qualifying reduce the 35 member nations down to the final six that contest the fourth and final round of qualifying.
Round One: the top 12 ranked teams are given byes, while the teams ranked 13 to 35 play each other to ultimately reduce the field down to 24 teams.
Round Two: The 24 remaining teams are paired into 12 home-and-away series. The winners move on to round three.
Round Three: The remaining 12 teams are broken up into three groups of four teams. Within each group, the teams play every other team twice (home-and-away) and at the conclusion of the series, the top two teams in each group move on to round four.
Round Four: The final stage is conducted as a round robin home-and-away series amongst all the teams, and at the conclusion, the top three teams are awarded World Cup spots. The fourth place team plays a home-and-away playoff against the fifth placed South American team.
Oceania
10 teams, 0.5 places
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Round one of qualifying actually took place at the South Pacific Games. As the highest ranked team, New Zealand was given a bye into round two. The remaining nine teams (Papua New Guinea withdrew before the South Pacific Games) competed at the South Pacific Games and the top three teams advanced into round two. Those three teams and New Zealand formed one round robin home-and-away group. The winner (New Zealand) will have a playoff against the fifth placed qualifier from the Asian confederations for a spot at the World Cup.
South America
10 teams, 4.5 places
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