Cape Town - The eighth edition of the Confederations Cup will take place in South Africa from June 14-18.

The tournament will be contested by the winners of each of the six FIFA confederation championships - CAF (Egypt), CONMEBOL (Brazil), UEFA (Spain), AFC (Iraq), OFC (New Zealand), CONCACAF (USA) - along with the reigning FIFA World Cup winners (Italy) and the host country (South Africa), to bring the number of teams up to eight.

A brief history of the previous seven tournaments:

1992 - Saudi Arabia

The FIFA Confederations Cup was originally called the King Fahd Cup or Intercontinental Championship and the first tournament was held in Saudi Arabia in 1992.

Only four teams participated with Argentina winning the tournament beating Saudi Arabia in the final. The USA finished third and the Ivory Coast were fourth. The astounding fact about this tournament was that there were 18 goals scored in the four matches, an average of 4.5 goals per match!

Avg attendance: 42 375

1995 - Saudi Arabia

The next tournament was held three years later and again hosted by Saudi Arabia but this time included six teams. Reigning European Champions Denmark did not disappoint with their performances and won the King Fahd Cup after beating Argentina in the final. Mexico finished third with Nigeria fourth. Defenders seemed to benefit from the searing heat in Riyadh as the average goals dropped to 2.4 per game.

Avg attendance:  20 625

1997 - Saudi Arabia

Two years later and the Confederations Cup was again held in Saudi Arabia, this time featuring eight teams – the format used ever since. South Africa made their first appearance at the tournament as the reigning Champions of Africa.

Bafana were impressive in their first match holding the much fancied Czech Republic to a 2-2 draw. Helman Mkhalele scored an 86th minute equaliser to give coach Clive Barker’s team a point.

Bafana’s next match was against the United Arab Emirates, and disaster struck in only the fifth minute when Hassan Mubarak found the net. Bafana dominated the match and even with four strikers on the field for the final 10 minutes could find no way past the resolute defence.

Bafana needed a win in their final group match and came up against the tough-tackling Uruguay. The match was an end-to-end cracker with Lucas Radebe giving Bafana an 11th minute lead. Uruguay equalised a minute later and then went in front just before half-time. A further goal midway through the second half looked to have killed Bafana before goals by Mkhalele and Pollen Ndlanya brought the teams level with 12 minutes left. Both teams went in search of the winner, but it was Uruguay who found it in the last minute of the match, winning 4-3.

Uruguay then lost to Australia in the semi-final while Brazil, with Romario, Ronaldo and Denilson starring, beat the Czech Republic to reach the final. Australia had Mark Viduka sent off in the 24th minute of the final, but even with 11 men would have found it hard to beat the reigning World Champions. Romario and Ronaldo each scored a hat-trick as the South Americans won 6-0.

South Africa were awarded the FIFA Fair Play award, but it was small consolation as coach Clive Barker was forced out of his position by the SA Football Association.

Avg attendance: 18 344

1999 - Mexico

The next tournament was held outside of Saudi Arabia for the first time. Mexico were the hosts and used their home ground advantage to great effect by winning the tournament, beating World Champions Brazil in the final. Ronaldinho stole the show though winning the Golden Boot for most goals and the Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament.

Avg attendance: 60 625

2001 - Korea/Japan

World Champions France arrived without stars Fabian Barthez and Zinedine Zidane, but with Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Marcel Desailly in sparkling form were too good for the rest. Co-hosts Japan were fantastic in getting to the final, and gave a sign of things to come at the 2002 World Cup where they would make the final 16.

France beat Brazil 2-1 in the semi-final and then produced a professional performance in outclassing Japan in the final - Patrick Vieira’s goal enough to win the match.

Avg attendance: 34 824

2003 - France

After their disappointment at the 2002 World Cup tournament where they failed to score a goal or pick up a point, France got back to winning ways in front of their home supporters. Thierry Henry was in fantastic form and led the assault on the opposition scoring four goals in the process including the winning goal against Cameroon in the final.

Sadly the 2003 tournament will be remembered for the passing away of Cameroon international Marc-Vivien Foe who collapsed on the field during the semi-final match against Colombia.

In a fitting tribute to the player, both sets of players gathered before the final match behind a huge image of Foe and held a minute's silence. Cameroon played their hearts out in the last match but were unable to beat France, losing to a Golden Goal after the score was 0-0 after 90 minutes.

Avg attendance: 30 731

2005 - Germany

The 2005 edition of the Confederations Cup was the first time it was held exactly one year before the World Cup tournament and provided a dress-rehearsal for both the host country organisers as well as the teams preparing for the 2006 World Cup tournament.

The reigning 2002 World Champions Brazil were back to their formidable best during the tournament and gave fellow South American challengers Argentina a 4-1 hiding in the final; sweet revenge for their 3-1 loss in a World Cup qualifier only three weeks earlier. Striker Adriano proved an adequate replacement for the injured Ronaldo, scoring five goals on his way to the Golden Boot award.

Hosts Germany showed that they had a team that was ready to challenge for honours the next year by finishing third.

The 56 goals scored is a tournament record, averaging 3.5 goals per match. Only one match ended goalless - the Mexico vs Greece match.

Avg attendance: 37 694