2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. The bidding process for hosting the tournament finals was open only to African nations. In 2004, the international football federation, FIFA, selected South Africa over Egypt and Morocco to become the first African nation to host the finals.[6]
"FIFA 2010" redirects here. For the video game, see FIFA 10.
- isiZulu: iNdebe Yomhlaba Ye-FIFA ka-2010
- Afrikaans: FIFA Sokker-Wêreldbekertoernooi in 2010
- isiXhosa: 2010 FIFuRoni da Futboll
- Northern Sotho: Mogopo wa Lefase wa FIFA wa 2010
- Sesotho: Mohope wa lefatse wa FIFA 2010
- isiZulu: iNdebe Yomhlaba Ye-FIFA ka-2010
- Afrikaans: FIFA Sokker-Wêreldbekertoernooi in 2010
- isiXhosa: 2010 FIFuRoni da Futboll
- Northern Sotho: Mogopo wa Lefase wa FIFA wa 2010
- Sesotho: Mohope wa lefatse wa FIFA 2010
South Africa
11 June – 11 July
32 (from 6 confederations)
10 (in 9 host cities)
Spain (1st title)
64
145 (2.27 per match)
3,178,856 (49,670 per match)
Diego Forlán
Thomas Müller
Wesley Sneijder David Villa
(5 goals each)[1]
Diego Forlán[2]
Thomas Müller[3]
The matches were played in 10 stadiums in nine host cities around the country,[7] with the opening and final played at the Soccer City stadium in South Africa's largest city, Johannesburg.[8][9] Thirty-two teams were selected for participation[10] via a worldwide qualification tournament that began in August 2007. In the first round of the tournament finals, the teams competed in round-robin groups of four teams for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding. These 16 teams advanced to the knockout stage, where three rounds of play decided which teams would participate in the final.
In the final, Spain, the European champions, defeated third-time losing finalists the Netherlands 1–0 after extra time to win their first world title. Spain became the eighth nation to win the tournament and the first European nation to win a World Cup hosted outside its home continent: all previous World Cups held outside Europe had been won by South American nations. They are also the first national team since 1978 to win a World Cup after losing a game in the group stage. As a result of their win, Spain represented the World in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. Host nation South Africa were eliminated in the group stage and both 2006 World Cup finalists Italy and France were also eliminated at the group stage. It was the first time that the hosts had been eliminated in the first stage. New Zealand, with their three draws, were the only undefeated team in the tournament, but they were also eliminated in the group stage.
The total prize money on offer for the tournament was confirmed by FIFA as US$420 million (including payments of US$40 million to domestic clubs), a 60 percent increase on the 2006 tournament.[41] Before the tournament, each of the 32 entrants received US$1 million for preparation costs. Once at the tournament, the prize money was distributed as follows:[41]
In a first for the World Cup, FIFA made payments to the domestic clubs of the players representing their national teams at the tournament. This saw a total of US$40 million paid to domestic clubs. This was the result of an agreement reached in 2008 between FIFA and European clubs to disband the G-14 group and drop their claims for compensation dating back to 2005 over the financial cost of injuries sustained to their players while on international duty, such as that from Belgian club Charleroi S.C. for injury to Morocco's Abdelmajid Oulmers in a friendly game in 2004, and from English club Newcastle United for an injury to England's Michael Owen in the 2006 World Cup.[43][44][45]
Statistics
Goalscorers
South African winger Siphiwe Tshabalala was the first player to score a goal in the competition, in their 1–1 draw against Mexico, the opening game of the tournament. Danish defender Daniel Agger was credited with the first own goal of the tournament, in his side's 2–0 loss to the Netherlands. Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuaín was the only player to score a hat-trick in the tournament, in Argentina's 4–1 win over South Korea, the match where the second and last own goal was scored.[93] It was the 49th World Cup hat-trick in the history of the tournament.
Spain set a new record for the fewest goals scored by a World Cup-winning team, with eight.[90] The previous record low was 11, set by Brazil in 1994, England in 1966,[90] and Italy in 1938.[94] Spain had the fewest goalscorers for a champion as well (three – Villa with five goals, Iniesta with two and Puyol with one).[68] They also had the fewest goals conceded for a champion (2), equal with Italy (2006) and France (1998). Spain's victory marked the first time that a team won the World Cup without conceding a goal in the knockout stage.[88]
The four top scorers in the tournament had five goals each. All of the four top scorers also came from the teams that finished in the top four, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, and Uruguay. The Golden Boot went to Thomas Müller of Germany who had three assists, compared to one for the three others. The Silver Boot went to David Villa of Spain, who played a total of 635 minutes, and the Bronze Boot to Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands, who played 652 minutes. Diego Forlán of Uruguay had five goals and one assist in 654 minutes. A further three players scored four goals.[95]
Only 145 goals were scored at South Africa 2010, the lowest of any FIFA World Cup since the tournament switched to a 64-game format. This continued a downward trend since the first 64-game finals were held 12 years earlier, with 171 goals at France 1998, 161 at Korea/Japan 2002 and 147 at Germany 2006.[68]
5 goals