Wikipedia is pretty amazing…I hope it’s accurate too because I spent the afternoon learning about the 2010 FIFA World Cup given that it kicks-off here in South Africa on June 11th. Here are some interesting tidbits…2010 is the 19th FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup. It began in 1930 and is every 4 years. The only exceptions were 1942 and 1946 due to WWII.
There are 208 national teams, 204 of which competed to qualify for 2010. Qualifications began in August 2007, and now 32 teams are in the final tournament. Checkout Wikipedia for who plays who, where and when.
With this many nations involved, it matches the 2008 Summer Olympics as the sports event with the most competing nations.
Italy is the current champion, and has had 4 titles. Brazil has had the most with 5.
South Africa is the first African nation to host, winning the bid against Morocco and Egypt. Libya and Tunisia were also interested, but it was decided countries couldn’t co-host the tournament.
South Africa has 10 venues, 5 newly built and 5 upgraded. Some estimate construction costs at R8.4 billion (Rand) and which is about $1.1 billion.
If I understand Wikipedia correctly, prize money is $420 million. Wow! Losing teams get $8M each, and then the rest of the money gets distributed depending on the bracket level. The overall winner gets $30M.
Zakumi, this cute little leopard, is the 2010 mascot. “Za” for the international abbreviation for South Africa, and “kumi” which is “ten” in many different African languages.
The official song is “Waka Waka” based on a traditional African soldiers’ song, will be performed by Shakira and the South Africa band Freshlyground.
And the official ball is the Adidas “Jubalani” which means “bringing joy to everyone” in isiZulu.
Let the games begin!
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