The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th
FIFA World Cup, the premier international
football tournament. It is scheduled to take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in
South Africa. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the culmination of a qualification process that began in August 2007 and involved 204 of the 208
FIFA national teams. As such, it matches the
2008 Summer Olympics as the sports event with the most competing nations.
This will be the first time that the tournament has been hosted by an African nation, after South Africa beat
Morocco and
Egypt in an all-African bidding process.
Italy are the defending champions. The draw for the finals will take place on 4 December 2009 in
Cape Town.
Mascot

The
official mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is
Zakumi, a
leopard with green hair. His name comes from "ZA", the
international abbreviation for South Africa, and "kumi", a word that means "ten" in various African languages.
[4] The mascot's colours reflect those of the host nation's playing strip – yellow and green.