FIFA World Cup 2010
The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th FIFA World Cup, an international tournament for football, that is scheduled to take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa. It will be the first time that the tournament has been hosted by a nation in the Confederation of African Football, leaving the Oceania Football Confederation as the only FIFA Confederation never to have hosted the event.
Egypt
Libya / Tunisia (co-hosting)
Morocco
South Africa
Following the decision of the FIFA Executive Committee not to allow co-hosted tournaments, Tunisia withdrew from the bidding process. The committee also decided not to consider Libya's solo bid as it no longer met all the stipulations laid down in the official List of Requirements.
After one round of voting, the winning bid was announced by FIFA president Sepp Blatter at a media conference on 15 May 2004 in Zurich. South Africa was awarded the rights to host the tournament, defeating Morocco and Egypt.[1]
Results:
South Africa, 14 votes
Morocco, 10 votes
Egypt, 0 votes
Tunisia withdrew on 8 May 2004 after joint bidding was not allowed
Libya bid was rejected: bid did not meet the list of requirements and joint bidding was not allowed
Qualification
Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
As the host nation, South Africa qualifies automatically for the tournament. However, South Africa is the first host since 1934 to participate in World Cup qualifiers. This is because the CAF qualifiers will also serve as the qualifying tournament for the 2010 African Cup of Nations, for which South Africa must qualify separately. Like the previous tournament, the defending champions Italy do not qualify automatically.
The preliminary draw for the 2010 World Cup was held in Durban, South Africa, on 25 November 2007.
The Final draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup will be staged in Cape Town, South Africa, in December 2009 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
Qualified teams
CAF
South Africa (host)
Gambia National Football Team
Gambia National Football Team:The soccer squad are also nicknamed The Scorpions, they are the national team of Gambia and are overseen by the Gambia Football Association. Until 1965, the team, and the country, were known as British Gambia. It has never qualified for the World Cup. The country kicked off the qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations 2004 with an historic draw against Senegal and silver-medalists at the African Cup of Nations 2002) and also enjoyed a short period at the top of their qualifying group. Gambia's most famous players are Jatto Ceesay, Ebou Sillah, Seffo Soley and Edrissa Sonko.Uniform Team Kit:
Jerseys: Red/blue/white
Socks: Red/blue/white
Popularity:Soccer is by far the most popular sport as a spectators sport and pastime, loved by Gambians of all ages and in particular the young. The country's international success is very limited due to its small size which limits the pool size from which talent can be drawn. In the last few years, football in Gambia has experienced a considerable rise in popularity particularly with the advent and increasing use of satellite television which has bought the likes of David Beckham & international league games to people's homes. All seven regions of the nation are represented by clubs in the first, second and third divisions of the national championship. Recently, an official women's championship has also been organised. At youth level, Gambia qualified for the African U-17 Championship for the first time in 2003, when the event was held in Swaziland.Independence Stadium in Bakau frequently hosts local and international matches, attended by large crowds, as tickets are free or quite inexpensive.
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham,[1] OBE[2] (born 2 May 1975) is an English footballer, who plays in midfield. He plays for and captains Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy[4] and is also a member of the England national team. He earned his much publicised 100th cap for England against France in March 2008.[5]
He has twice been runner-up for FIFA World Player of the Year[6], and in 2004 was the world's highest-paid footballer.[7] He was Google's most searched of all sports topics in both 2003 and 2004.[8] Such global recognition has made him an elite advertising brand and a top fashion icon.[9][10] Beckham was captain of England from 15 November 2000[11] to 2 July 2006. He made 58 appearances as captain, and ended his tenure in that role after the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals,[12] however, continued to make contributions for the England national team in competitions after this.[13] Beckham captained Manchester United for the first time on 21 October 2000 in a Premiership match against Leeds United, coming on as a substitute for injured team captain Roy Keane.[14]
Beckham's career began when he signed a professional contract with Manchester United, making his first-team début in 1992 aged 17.[6] During his time there, United won the Premier League title six times, the FA Cup twice, and the UEFA Champions League in 1999.[6] He left Manchester United to sign for Real Madrid in 2003, where he remained for four seasons.[15] While at Madrid, Beckham became the first British footballer to play 100 Champions League matches.[6] In his final season, Real clinched the 2006–07 La Liga championship title—Beckham's only major trophy with the club—in the final game of the season on 17 June.[16] In January 2007, it was announced that Beckham would leave Real Madrid and sign a five-year contract with Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy.[17]
Beckham's contract with Los Angeles Galaxy became effective on 1 July 2007 and gave him the highest salary of any MLS player in history.[18] He débuted for the team on 21 July in a friendly versus Chelsea at The Home Depot Center,[19] and on 15 August, he had his first start with the team, scoring his first goal in the 2007 SuperLiga semi-final.[20] His first league start then came on 18 August in front of a record crowd at Giants Stadium.[21]
Alongside his career as a footballer, Beckham has gained a significant amount of fame and celebrity status through his marriage to former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, leading to various sponsorship deals and advertising campaigns and an estimated joint wealth of £112 million.[22] The couple have three sons and currently reside in Beverly Hills, California.
New Zealand
Caribbean
In the English-speaking Caribbean, with the exception of the Bahamas, "football" and "soccer" are both used to refer to association football, but use of the word "football" is far more common. American football is exclusively referred to as "American football" and is largely unknown apart from American television. The nickname of the Trinidad & Tobago team, "The Soca Warriors", refers to a style of music, not the word soccer.
Canada
In Canada, "football" can refer to either Canadian football or American football, often differentiated as either "CFL" (from the governing Canadian Football League) or "NFL" (from the US National Football League). Because of the similarity between the games, many people in both countries do not consider the two styles of football separate sports per se, but rather different codes of the same sport. If a Canadian were to say, "My brother plays football in the States", it would be clear from context that American football is meant. Association football, which is rapidly gaining in popularity, is called soccer.[16] Canadian French usage parallels English usage, with le football usually referring to Canadian or American football, and le soccer referring to Association football. When there is ambiguity, le football canadien or le football américain is used.[17]
Australia
In Australia the word football often means Australian rules football.
Within Australia the term "football" is ambiguous and can mean around four different codes of football in Australian English, depending on the context, geographical location and cultural factors; this includes Australian rules football, rugby league, association football and rugby union.[7] The most common useage of the word among the people is between the former two. In the states of Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania football commonly means the Australian rules variation with their league the Australian Football League,[8] the slang term footy is also used in an unofficial context,[9] while in these states the two rugby football codes are named league and rugby respectively[citation needed]. There is a different situation in New South Wales and Queensland, where rugby league is most popular and known as just football or the slang footy instead and Australian rules football is known as AFL, Australian football or Aussie rules, while rugby union is known as just rugby.[7]
Prior to the 21st century association football was mostly known as just soccer in the country (with the exception of some), the national team is nicknamed the Socceroos.[10] However a period of official transition specifically related to the useage of the word football began in 2004 as the governing body changed its name to the Football Federation Australia from Australian Soccer Association and began referring to the sport exclusively as football.[11] Some high profile media outlets in the country followed in the form of Special Broadcasting Service, Fox Sports, the Sydney Morning Herald and other Sydney-based organisations.[12][13] There is also a minority of rugby union fans who call their sport football, however rugby is usually used by them.[14] The small following of American football is known by the name gridiron, or in an unofficial context American football.[15]
Etymology
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) records that the first written use of the word football used to describe a game was in 1424 in an Act forbidding it. The first written use of the word football to describe the ball was 1486, and that the first use as a verb (hence footballing) was in 1599. For the etymology, the OED just indicates it is a compound of foot and ball.
While it is widely believed that the word football, or "foot ball", originated in reference to the action of a foot kicking a ball, this may be a false etymology. An alternative explanation has it that the word originally referred to a variety of games in medieval Europe, which were played on foot.[5] These sports were usually played by peasants, as opposed to the horse-riding sports more often enjoyed by aristocrats. This explanation is supported by the fact that the word football has always implied a wide variety of games played on foot, not just those that revolved around kicking a ball. In some cases, the word has been applied to games which involved carrying a ball and specifically banned kicking. For example, the English writer William Hone, writing in 1825 or 1826, quotes the social commentator Sir Frederick Morton Eden, regarding a game — which Hone refers to as "Foot-Ball" — played in the parish of Scone, Scotland:
The game was this: he who at any time got the ball into his hands, run [sic] with it till overtaken by one of the opposite part; and then, if he could shake himself loose from those on the opposite side who seized him, he run on; if not, he threw the ball from him, unless it was wrested from him by the other party, but no person was allowed to kick it.[6] [Emphasis added].
However, there is no conclusive evidence for either theory regarding the origins of the word.
The word "soccer" originated as an "Oxford '-er'" slang abbreviation of "association", and was popularised by a prominent English footballer, Charles Wreford-Brown. This origin is evident in the sometimes-heard variation, "soccer football."
Football
This article is about various sports known as "football". For information about the balls used in these sports, see Football (ball). For the different uses and meanings of the word in the English language, see Football (word).
Some of the many different games known as football.
Football is the word given to a number of similar team sports, all of which involve (to varying degrees) kicking a ball with the foot in an attempt to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, also known as "soccer" and most commonly just "football". The English language word "football" is also applied to "gridiron football" (a name associated with the North American sports, especially American football and Canadian football), Australian football, Gaelic football, rugby football (rugby league and rugby union), and related games. Each of these codes (specific sets of rules, or the games defined by them) is referred to as "football".
These games involve:
Two teams of usually between 11 and 18 players. Note that versions with fewer players have varying degrees of popularity:
o Six-man, eight-man, and nine-man football, derived from American football, are also played mainly at scholastic level in less-populated parts of the United States. Small schools in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan also play nine-man football, derived from the country's own code.
o Rugby sevens, a version of rugby union with seven players per side instead of 15, is especially well-developed, with its own World Cup, a prominent annual international competition, and an entrenched position in the Commonwealth Games.
o Although the sevens format also exists in rugby league, a different abbreviated format, rugby league nines, is more popular.
• a clearly defined area in which to play the game;
• scoring goals and/or points, by moving the ball to an opposing team's end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line;
• the goal and/or line being defended by the opposing team;
• players being required to move the ball—depending on the code—by kicking, carrying and/or hand passing the ball; and
• goals and/or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts.
In most codes, there are rules restricting the movement of players offside, and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts. Other features common to several football codes include: points being mostly scored by players carrying the ball across the goal line and; players receiving a free kick after they take a mark/make a fair catch.
Peoples from around the world have played games which involved kicking and/or carrying a ball, since ancient times. However, most of the modern codes of football have their origins in England.
