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Jaco van der Merwe
Johannesburg – The 32 teams that are coming to South Africa in 2010 are the giants of world football.
All seven World Cup winners and 18 of the world’s top 21 teams will line up for the showpiece that kicks off at Soccer City on 11 June 2010.
The draw for the eight pools of four teams each takes place in Cape Town on December 4.
Algeria, France, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia and Uruguay were the six teams that sealed their participation this week.
Uruguay (2), Brazil (5), Italy (4), Germany (3), Argentina (2), England (1) and France (1) have won titles in the first 18 tournaments.
The showpiece was hosted in Uruguay the first time in 1930.
The best teams not making the trip to South Africa are Croatia, Russia and the Czech Republic. They are among the top 15 teams on the world rankings.
Croatia, who finished third in France in 1998, are one of three bronze medal winners from the last four World Cups that did not qualify. The other two are Sweden, who won bronze in the USA in 1994, and Turkey, who ended third in Japan and South Korea in 2002.
Only three of the 32 teams who will compete for the sought-after trophy next year, are not among the world’s top 50. They are New Zealand, North Korea and South Africa, who qualify automatically as host.
North Korea have had to wait longest to participate again. By 2010 it will have been 44 years since their first and only appearance, which was in England in 1966.
The North Koreans produced one of the biggest shocks to date at the time by beating two-time champions Italy 1-0.
New Zealand and Honduras both last qualified in 1982, while Algeria (1986) and Greece (1994) also struggled for decades to book their places.
Slovakia and Serbia will compete under their flags for the first time, but were in the past part of other teams that competed at the World Cup.
It is the first time that Slovakia have qualified since Czechoslovakia disbanded in 1993. Czechoslovakia reached the quarterfinals of the tournament in Italy in 1990.
Serbia previously competed under the flag of Yugoslavia and after that in Germany in 2006 as part of Serbia and Montenegro.
Johannesburg – The 32 teams that are coming to South Africa in 2010 are the giants of world football.
All seven World Cup winners and 18 of the world’s top 21 teams will line up for the showpiece that kicks off at Soccer City on 11 June 2010.
The draw for the eight pools of four teams each takes place in Cape Town on December 4.
Algeria, France, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia and Uruguay were the six teams that sealed their participation this week.
Uruguay (2), Brazil (5), Italy (4), Germany (3), Argentina (2), England (1) and France (1) have won titles in the first 18 tournaments.
The showpiece was hosted in Uruguay the first time in 1930.
The best teams not making the trip to South Africa are Croatia, Russia and the Czech Republic. They are among the top 15 teams on the world rankings.
Croatia, who finished third in France in 1998, are one of three bronze medal winners from the last four World Cups that did not qualify. The other two are Sweden, who won bronze in the USA in 1994, and Turkey, who ended third in Japan and South Korea in 2002.
Only three of the 32 teams who will compete for the sought-after trophy next year, are not among the world’s top 50. They are New Zealand, North Korea and South Africa, who qualify automatically as host.
North Korea have had to wait longest to participate again. By 2010 it will have been 44 years since their first and only appearance, which was in England in 1966.
The North Koreans produced one of the biggest shocks to date at the time by beating two-time champions Italy 1-0.
New Zealand and Honduras both last qualified in 1982, while Algeria (1986) and Greece (1994) also struggled for decades to book their places.
Slovakia and Serbia will compete under their flags for the first time, but were in the past part of other teams that competed at the World Cup.
It is the first time that Slovakia have qualified since Czechoslovakia disbanded in 1993. Czechoslovakia reached the quarterfinals of the tournament in Italy in 1990.
Serbia previously competed under the flag of Yugoslavia and after that in Germany in 2006 as part of Serbia and Montenegro.
