2010 FIFA World Cup

• 1. The Bidding War

  ›

  FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced the winner of the 2010 World Cup host selection on the 15th of May 2004 in Zürich. South Africa received 14 votes while Morocco secured 10 and Egypt received none. This decision made South Africa the first African nation to host the tournament finals after a rotation policy that was abandoned in 2007. Five African nations had originally placed bids including Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, and a joint bid from Libya and Tunisia. The committee decided not to allow co-hosted tournaments so Tunisia withdrew from the process. They also rejected Libya's solo bid because it no longer met official requirements.

  Nelson Mandela campaigned for South Africa to win the right to host by speaking about football during his imprisonment at Robben Island prison. He stated that playing football made them feel alive and triumphant despite their situation. An emotional Mandela raised the FIFA World Cup Trophy after winning the bid. Rumors circulated in 2006 and 2007 suggesting the event might move to another country due to concerns over planning and organization. Franz Beckenbauer and Horst R. Schmidt expressed worry about the pace of preparations alongside some unnamed FIFA executives.

  On the 28th of May 2015 media reported that high-ranking officials from the South African bid committee paid US$10 million in bribes to secure hosting rights. These payments went to then-FIFA Vice President Jack Warner and other Executive Committee members. Chuck Blazer confirmed on the 4th of June 2015 that he and others accepted bribes to promote both the 1998 and 2010 World Cup bids. The Daily Telegraph later reported that Morocco actually won the vote but lost the tournament award.

• 2. Stadiums And Infrastructure

  ›

  Five new stadiums were built for the tournament while five existing venues received upgrades. Construction costs reached R8.4 billion which equaled just over US$1 billion or €950 million. South Africa improved public transport infrastructure including Johannesburg's Gautrain system and major road networks. Danny Jordaan reported in March 2009 that all stadiums would be completed within six months. A temporary restriction on flight operations surrounded the stadiums to ensure spectator safety.

  Six of the ten venues sat over 1,000 meters above sea level affecting ball motion and player performance. FNB Stadium and Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg stood highest at approximately 1,750 meters. FNB Stadium hosted eight matches alongside Cape Town Stadium and Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban and Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria each hosted seven matches. Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane and Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit hosted four matches without any knockout stage games.

  On the 8th of July 2009 seventy thousand construction workers walked off their jobs working on new stadiums. The majority earned R2500 per month while unions alleged some workers were grossly underpaid. The strike lasted only a week before workers returned to complete projects on time. No further strikes occurred during the tournament preparation phase.

• 3. Qualification And Teams

  ›

  The qualification draw took place in Durban on the 25th of November 2007 with South Africa qualifying automatically as host nation. Italy had to participate in qualification since defending champions did not receive an automatic berth. A pool of 204 out of 208 FIFA national teams entered the competition setting a record for most competing nations in a sporting event. Slovakia made its first appearance as an independent nation after previously playing as part of Czechoslovakia. North Korea qualified for the first time since 1966 while Honduras and New Zealand appeared for the first time since 1982.

  Algeria reached the finals for the first time since 1986 and Greece qualified for the first time since 1994. Serbia also made its first appearance as an independent nation having previously played as Kingdom of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia, FR Yugoslavia, and Serbia and Montenegro. Saudi Arabia failed to qualify despite making four consecutive appearances prior to this tournament. Tunisia and Croatia both missed out after three previous qualifications. Costa Rica, Ecuador, Poland, and Sweden all failed to reach the finals after two straight appearances.

  Croatia ranked tenth when failing to qualify while North Korea sat at rank 105th among those that succeeded. This marked the last time North Korea, Slovakia, and Slovenia qualified for any World Cup finals. Belgium, Iran, and Croatia also failed to qualify with Croatia appearing only once before missing again.

• 4. Tournament Matches

  ›

  Spain defeated the Netherlands 1, 0 in extra time on the 11th of July 2010 at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg. Andrés Iniesta scored the winning goal in the 116th minute giving Spain their first world title. The match featured 14 yellow cards handed out by referee Howard Webb doubling the previous record set in 1986. John Heitinga received a second yellow card and was sent off during the intense final. Arjen Robben had a clear chance against goalkeeper Iker Casillas but his shot was saved with an outstretched leg.

  South Africa became the first host nation eliminated in the group stage despite beating France and drawing with Mexico. Ghana reached the round of 16 becoming the third African team to achieve this feat after Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002. England suffered a 4, 1 loss to Germany which represented their biggest margin of defeat at any World Cup finals. The match between these two traditional rivals ended decisively in regulation time unlike four previous meetings that required extra time or penalties.

  Germany defeated Argentina 4, 0 in the quarter-finals while the Netherlands came from behind to beat Brazil 2, 1. Uruguay overcame Ghana in a penalty shoot-out after Luis Suárez handled the ball on the line missing a penalty at the end of extra time. Spain reached their first ever final with a 1, 0 victory over Germany. The Netherlands qualified for the final for the third time with a 3, 2 win over Uruguay.

• 5. Social And Economic Impact

  ›

  The Durban-based shack-dwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo took the KwaZulu-Natal government to court on the 14th of May 2009 over slum elimination laws. The N2 Gateway housing project planned to remove over 20,000 residents from the Joe Slovo Informal Settlement along the busy N2 Freeway. NGOs criticized conditions in Blikkiesdorp transit camps used to accommodate poor families evicted for the tournament. Tourists from China, Portugal, Spain, South Korea, Japan and Colombia became victims of theft during the event.

  Construction costs totaled £3 billion while the government expected tourism to offset expenses by generating £570 million. Only £323 million actually arrived as 309,000 foreign fans visited compared to an expected 450,000. Local vendors faced prohibitive registration fees of R60,000 to operate within 1.5 kilometers of stadiums. This fee prevented simple one-man-operated vendors from participating and stopped international visitors from experiencing local food options.

  Hundreds of broadcasters representing about 70 countries transmitted the Cup to a TV audience exceeding 26 billion people cumulatively. An average of 400 million viewers watched each match with approximately 700 million tuning in for the final. New digital media allowed viewers to watch coverage through cell phones and computers getting more online attention than any major sporting event yet.

• 6. Media And Technology

  ›

  ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 averaged a 2.1 rating covering all 64 games in the United States.

  Live streaming on ESPN3.com pulled in some of the largest audiences in history with 7.4 million unique viewers watching matches. The semi-final between Spain and Germany attracted 355,000 people per minute making it the platform's largest average audience ever. Sony technology captured 25 matches using 3D cameras housed in specially designed outside broadcast trucks. Footage was produced by Host Broadcast Services using flagship HDC-1500 cameras and compact POV-type units.

  EA Sports released the official video game on the 27th of April 2010 while PlayStation Home featured a virtual space called FevaArena starting the 3rd of December 2009. FIFA expanded Fan Fest events to Sydney, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City and multiple South African venues. Durban hosted the most popular Fan Fest during the tournament followed closely by Cape Town.