2010 FIFA World Cup™ Preliminary

A new FIFA World Cup™ qualifying record was set this year as no less than 853 matches were played across six confederations to determine the 31 teams which would join hosts South Africa at the finals next summer. The number of spectators also made for positive reading: almost 20 million fans, or 23,000 per match, filled the stadiums and set a new attendance record for a FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. Down in number, however, were the amount of goals scored. 2344 goals, or 2.75 per match, was the lowest total since the qualification campaign for Italy 1990.

Côte d’Ivoire, Germany, Italy, Korea Republic, Nigeria, Netherlands, Spain and the British Virgin Islands all came through the qualifiers undefeated, although the latter did not manage to secure a place at the finals. All former FIFA World Cup winners also booked their tickets for South Africa 2010: Brazil, Argentina, Germany, England and Italy all came through the group stage unscathed, while France and Uruguay had to overcome tricky play-off ties to ensure their passage to the finals.

In Asia and Oceania, Australia's decision to switch confederations from the OFC to the AFC made for a surprise or two, not least that OFC representatives New Zealand were able to qualify for their first FIFA World Cup since 1982. Australia themselves were also triumphant in their new confederation, booking their place at South Africa 2010 along with the likes of Japan, Korea Republic and Korea DPR.

In South America, perennial powerhouses Brazil and Argentina both qualified along with Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, although the Argentinians were hardly convincing, requiring a late Mario Bolatti strike in their final match against Uruguay to make absolutely sure. For their part, the Uruguayans qualified via the play-offs against Costa Rica. USA, Mexico and Honduras will be representing CONCACAF in South Africa.

Spain, Netherlands and England dominated proceedings in the European Zone. Both the Roja and the Oranje topped their respective groups without dropping a single point. Similarly to New Zealand, the Dutch only required eight games to confirm their place in South Africa - no other team played fewer matches. The motherland of football, England, also convinced, losing just one match against Ukraine en route to qualification.

There was also plenty of excitement in Africa, where the final qualification place had to be settled by a hastily organised play-off. At the end of the group stage, both Algeria and Egypt were level on points and goals, with the Algerians eventually emerging victorious with a 1-0 victory in a decider played in the Sudanese capital Omdurman. Cameroon, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana also qualified from their respective groups. Tunisia, having contested the last three consecutive FIFA World Cup tournaments, miss out this time round.

Just as in the 2006 competition, Japan were the first team to qualify for the final phase. The Samurai Blue confirmed their ticket to South Africa on 6 June 2009 with a 1-0 success over Uzbekistan in Tashkent, followed a couple of hours later by the qualifications of Australia and Korea Republic.

The first goal scored in the race to qualify for South Africa was a penalty converted on 25 August 2007 by New Caledonia striker Pierre Wajoka, nine minutes into his side’s 1-0 win away to Tahiti.

Mexico versus USA is the most-played fixture in the history of the preliminary competition. At the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on 12 August 2009, El Tricolor went toe-to-toe with The Stars and Stripes for the 25 th time in qualification for the FIFA World Cup™.

British Virgin Islands are one of eight teams to have ended their qualification campaign unbeaten. Even so, the Nature Boyz played just two games before bowing out at the first hurdle, having drawn 1-1 away and 2-2 at home to Bahamas in the first stage of the CONCACAF qualifiers.

With ten wins out of ten in their latest campaign, Spain extended their run of consecutive matches undefeated in FIFA World Cup™ qualification to 45 games, smashing Germany’s record of 36 achieved between 1934 and 1985. The Iberians’ last reverse dates back to 1993, when they went down 1-0 against Denmark in Copenhagen.

AFRICA – 49+1 (South Africa as host): Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Congo DR, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

ASIA – 41: Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China PR, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen.

CONCACAF – 35: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent / Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands, USA.

EUROPE – 53: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Wales

OCEANIA – 11: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Tonga, Tuvalu (non-FIFA member), Vanuatu.

SOUTH AMERICA – 10: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela

Number of teams participating for the first time in the preliminary competition – 3: Comoros, Montenegro, Timor-Leste.

• Only the football associations of the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam and Laos did not register. Central African Republic, Eritrea, Sao Tome e Principe, Papua New Guinea, Guam and Bhutan all withdrew without playing a single game. Ethiopia was disqualified after playing four games.

Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Côte d’Ivoire, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Paraguay, Portugal, Serbia, SLOVAKIA*, Slovenia, South Africa (H), Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay, United State.

Legend
NEWCOMERS TO FINALS in upper case italics
(C) Defending champions, qualified automatically

* Slovakia as an independent team and state is a newcomer however both Slovakia and Czech Rep. are successors of the former

Preliminaries tournament statistics (without taking into account technical and annulled results)
Matches (neutral field)	850 (40)
Goals Scored	2335
Host Goals Scored	1395 (59,74%)
Guest Goals Scored	798 (34,18%)
Neutral Goals Scored	142 (6,08%)
Home win	422 (49,65%)
Draws	169 (19,88%)
Away win	219 (25,76%)
Goals Scored (average per match)	2,75
High score (more than 3 goals)	246 (28,94%)
No Score Draw	73 (8,59%)
Attendance	19 376 287
Average viewers per match	22 822
Penalties awarded (*incomplete data)	159
Penalty goals	143
% Successful Penalty kicks (*incomplete data)	89,94 %
Own goals	50
Cautions (on average)	3095 (3,64)
Sent off (aver.)	165 (0,19) - 90/75
Players participated	5594