| 2010 FIFA World Cup | |
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Host |
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Dates |
June 11—July 11 |
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Winners |
Spain (1st title) |
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Runner-up |
Netherlands |
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Third place |
Germany |
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Fourth place |
Uruguay |
2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th edition of the men's FIFA World Cup tournament. 32 teams qualified for the final tournament, including hosts South Africa. This was the first time the World Cup traveled to Africa since there was no FIFA World Cups hosted by countries in Africa before.
The winners of the tournament was Spain, who defeated the Netherlands in the final 1-0 after extra time.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup is one of the poorest World Cups, as it had only 2.27 goals scored per match in average, better then the 1990 FIFA World Cup's average of 2.21. It had a record 14 bookings (thirteen yellow and one red; doubling the 1986 match) in the final between Spain and the Netherlands.
Qualified teams
32 teams participated in the final tournament. Two European nations made their World Cup debuts, Slovakia after the Czechoslovakia breakup and Serbia as an independent nation. Serbia previously had World Cup experience as Serbia and Montenegro in 2006 and Yugoslavia in their eight appearances excluding 1998; Slovakia previously didn't have World Cup experience. Canada, who hosted the Olympics earlier that year, still can't qualify for their first since 1986.
Nations that failed to qualify include Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Croatia, which all of their streaks of appearing in the tournaments have ended; Croatia qualified for the 2014 tournament. Sweden, Poland, Costa Rica, and Ecuador all failed to qualify for the first time since 1998; Costa Rica and Ecuador qualified for the 2014 tournament. Two European teams also failed: Euro 2008 semi-finalists Russia and 2002 third-placed team Turkey; Russia qualified for the 2014 and 2018 tournaments. No UEFA countries that began with A, B or C qualified for the World Cup for the first time, as the first country in UEFA in alphabetical order would be Denmark.
Ukraine, who reached the quarter-finals the last World Cup, also failed to qualify.
Greece, who won Euro 2004, qualified for the first time since 1994. New Zealand and Honduras both appeared for the first time since 1982. North Korea played for their first FIFA World Cup in 44 years since 1966. Algeria qualified for the first time since 1986.
As of 2018, this was the last time Korea DPR, New Zealand, Paraguay, South Africa, Slovakia and Slovenia qualified for a World Cup finals.
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Trivia
- This World Cup was Spain's first title. Spain previously won two European Championships: Euro 2008 and after, Euro 2012.
- Bosnia-Herzegovina made it to the playoffs, but missed their first World Cup after losing to Portugal. They would qualify for the next World Cup.
- Portugal trumped North Korea 7-0, making it the same thing as Brazil 1-7 Germany.
- Netherlands missed their first title the third time, after 1974 and 1978.
- The 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification for Europe started on August 20, 2008, four days before Beijing 2008's closing.
- Morocco would have likely won hosting for 2010, but it eventually went to South Africa.
- New Zealand drew all three of their games in Group F.
- On the day of the draw, New Zealand is the team most people wanted to have no single point.
- Italy did not qualify automatically as defending champions.
- South Africa was the first host team to be eliminated in the first round; after losing 3-0 to Uruguay.
- Colombia, Belgium and Costa Rica, who were all eliminated in the quarters of Brazil 2014, all have failed to qualify.
- After Italy and France surprisingly finished last in their groups, only six out of the thirteen advanced.
- Saudi Arabia failed to qualify for the first time since 1990.
- The longest match of tennis, the Isner-Mahut match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, was played during the World Cup. France and the USA both qualified for the tournament.
- The Wimbledon final would have clashed with the World Cup final had there been the three week gap between the French Open and Wimbledon in 2010.
- The goal average of 2.27 was the lowest for a FIFA World Cup since 1990's 2.21, and the lowest for a 32 team tournament.
