| FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | South Africa |
| Dates | 11 June – 11 July (31 days) |
| Teams | 32 (from 6 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 10 (in 9 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Spain (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Netherlands |
| Third place |  Germany |
| Fourth place |  Uruguay |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 64 |
| Goals scored | 145 (2.27 per match) |
| Attendance | 3,178,856 (49,670 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Diego Forlán Thomas Müller Wesley Sneijder David Villa (5 goals each) |
| Best player(s) | Diego Forlán |
| Best young player | Thomas Müller |
| Best goalkeeper | Iker Casillas |
The 2010 World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship between 32 men's national football teams. It was held in South Africa from 11 June to 10 July 2010. In the host selection, only African countries may be selected as host of this tournament. In 2004 FIFA selected South Africa to become it the first African country hosted FIFA World Cup.
The matches were played in 10 stadiums in 9 cities around the country. The final was played at the Soccer City, Johannesburg All countries (except South Africa that qualified as host nation) took part in qualification tournament to qualify to the World Cup. In the first round all teams were divided to eight groups of four teams where team played with other three teams in group. Two best teams from each group qualify to knockout stage where teams need to win 3 matches to reach the final.
In the final Spain, the European champions, won the tournament. They defeated Netherlands 1-0 in extra time with Andrés Iniesta's goal in the 116th minute. Spain got their first World Cup title and they also became the first European team won the World Cup outside Europe. They also became the first team to win the World Cup after losing their first match. Host nation of this tournament South Africa, winner (Italy) and finalist (France) of previous World Cup were all failed the group stage. It was the first time when host nation was not qualified to knockout stage. New Zealand was only team that did not lose any matches but it also did not advance to knockout stage
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