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• World Soccer Championship

  The FIFA World Cup is a worldwide football competition that holds a tournament nearly every four years to determine the world champion. The tournament has two parts, with a qualification phase determining the contestants, and a final phase where the qualifying teams compete to be named world champion. The final stage, called the World Cup Finals, is played by the 32 qualifying teams. The World Cup is generally the most viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament. The next competition will be held in South Africa in 2010.

• Teams Qualified for the World Cup, 15 Oct. 2009

  Mexico, United States, Honduras, Denmark, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Australia.

• Qualified Teams and Upcoming Play-offs

  Africa

  • Ivory Coast
  • Ghana
  • South Africa

  (3 more teams to be decided)

  • South America
  • Argentina
  • Chile
  • Brazil
  • Paraguay
  • (one more place to be decided between Uruguay and Costa Rica)
  • North, Central America and Caribbean
  • USA
  • Honudras
  • Mexico
  • (Costa Rica or Uruguay)
  • Asia
  • Austrailia
  • Korea DPR
  • Korea Republic
  • Japan
  • (Bahrain vs. New Zealand)
  • Europe
  • Denmark
  • Germany
  • Netherlands
  • Slovakia
  • Switzerland
  • England
  • Italy
  • Serbia
  • Spain

  (4 more positions to be decided)

• Fast Facts

  1. Brazil has the most World Cup victories, winning the tournament five times
  2. The United States has never won the World Cup
  3. The 2006 World Cup Champion was Italy
  4. 2010 FIFA World Cup will be played in Cape Town, South Africa
  5. World Cup is organized by FIFA
  6. Played every four years, except in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II

• History

  The first World Cup, organized by FIFA, was played in 1930. Only seven nations have won the World Cup, with Brazil having won the most. Other winners include Uruguay, Argentina, Italy, England, France and Germany. The current World Cup trophy was designed in 1970, was the work of Italian designer Silvio Gazzaniga. The trophy is not awarded permanently and is returned to FIFA every four years before the next World Cup, and has the winning team's name engraved on the bottom of the trophy.

• Related Mahalo Pages

  David Beckham | South African National Football Team | How to Play Soccer | Zinedine Zidane | Major League Soccer | Los Angeles Galaxy | World Cup Tickets

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