FIFA WORLD CUP 2010

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is the 19th FIFA World Cup, the premier international association football tournament, which is being held in South Africa. It is the first time the finals of the tournament have been staged in an African host nation. South Africa was selected as host in May 2004, beating Morocco and Egypt in a bidding process open only to African nations. Held every four years since 1930, the previous tournament was held in Germany, while the 2014 finals will be hosted by Brazil.
The finals tournament sees 736 players representing 32 teams compete for the World Cup trophy in games held in ten stadiums across South Africa. The qualifying teams were selected through a qualification process that began in August 2007. With a pool of entrants comprising 204 of the 208 FIFA national teams, the 2010 World Cup shares with the 2008 Summer Olympics the record for most competing nations in a sporting event.
The finals began on 11 June with the group stage, in which the 32 qualifying teams played in round-robin groups of four teams for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding. These 16 teams advanced to the single elimination knockout stage beginning on 26 June, in which games tied after normal time are settled using extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shootout, up to and including the World Cup Final, scheduled for 11 July at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg.
(source : www.wikipedia.org)