World Cup 2010
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was held in South Africa and it was the 19th World Cup, which is the world championship for the men’s national association football teams. The World Cup was played from 11th June to 11th July and South Africa was chosen over Egypt and Morocco to become the first African Nation to host the finals. There were 32 teams from 6 Confederations and the matches were played at 10 venues in 9 host cities.
The teams were:
AFC
Australia
Japan
Korea DPR
Korea Republic
CAF
Algeria
Cameroon
Côte d’Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
South Africa
CONCACAF
Honduras
Mexico
United States
CONMEBOL
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Paraguay
Uruguay
OFC
New Zealand
UEFA
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Switzerland
The 2010 FIFA World Cup Champions are Spain and they were the European Champions as well. They beat three time world cup finalist Netherlands 1-0 in extra time with the goal shot by Andrés Iniesta in the 116th minute giving Spain their first World Cup to celebrate. They are also now the only European nation to have won the tournament outside its parent nation. Host South Africa and the 2006 World Champions Italy and 2006 runners up France all got eliminated in the first round its self.
The top scorer of the matches was German Thomas Müller followed by David Villa of Spain, Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands and Diego Forlán of Uruguay. The best player of the tournament was Diego Forlán. English referee Howard Webb was chosen to referee the finals making him the only person chosen to referee both the UEFA Champions League and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Awards in the 2010 FIFA World Cup
Golden Ball- Diego Forlán of Uruguay
Golden Boot- German Thomas Müller
Golden Glove-Iker Casillas of Spain
Best Young Player- Thomas Müller of Germany
FIFA Fair Play Trophy-Spain
The prize money for the games was $30 Million for the winner, $24 Million for the runner-up, $20 Million for the third placed team, $18 for the fourth placed team and then $14 Million for each team exiting after the quarter finals, $9 Million for each team exiting after the round of 16 and $8 Million for each team exiting after the group stage.
The Spaniards lifted the 2010 FIFA World Cup Trophy amongst the buzz of Vuvuzelas and brilliant fireworks display on the 11th of July 2010 to bring an entire month of festivities, football frenzy and anticipation to an end.