From it's humble beginnings in 1930 the Soccer World Cup has grown to be one of the most spectacular sporting events in the world. The 2010 World Cup promises to be the planet's biggest sporting event ever. Well over a billion people are expected to follow the month long tournament between the world's top 32 soccer playing nations.
The World Cup is the most important competition in international soccer and is organised by FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football
Association), the sport's governing body.
The tournament takes place every four years. The previous tournament was held in 2006 in Germany and Italy won the World Cup. 2010 will be the first time that the final tournament will be hosted by an African nation.
More than 160 national teams take part in the regional (Continental Zone) qualifying rounds to qualify as one of the 32 teams that will take part in finals.
he 2010 FIFA World Cup™ soccer tournament will be held in nine cities across Republic of South Africa from June 11 to July 11, 2010. Thousands of people will visit South Africa during this period, and the matches will have an estimated cumulative worldwide audience of around 6 billion people. Enormous financial benefits in terms of tourism, marketing and other services are expected across the country, as well as a massive boost in infrastructure investment ahead of the event.
