Group of Death

The draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa took place on Friday, December 4th in Cape Town. The purpose of the draw was to find out which countries will face each other in the group stage of the tournament.

Qualification for the World Cup finals began in September 2006, right after the World Cup in Germany. After four years the nations involved have been widdled down to just 32 (see "2010 FIFA World Cup" blog) which were placed into eight groups of four teams. Each team will play one game against the other three in the group in order to determine which two countries, based on highest point total, will move on to the knock-out stages. Teams get three points for a win, one for a tie, and zero for a loss. In the event of a tie in total points the tie-breaker is goal difference, then goals scored.

Teams were seeded into four pots of eight teams for the draw. The teams in group one were chosen based on the FIFA World Rankings from October 2009 and also includes the host nation. The remaining groups were based on FIFA confederations. Group two was from Asia, North America and Oceania, group three from Africa and South America, group four was from Europe.

As it happened, with the help of special guests including actress Charlize Theron and footballer David Beckham, the groups were chosen as follows:

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France. Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece. Group C: England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia. Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana. Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon. Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia. Group G (aka Group of Death): Brazil, Korea DPR, Cote d'Ivoire, Portugal. Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile.

Get ready to cheer for your team this summer.