The FIFA World Cup Finals tournament will take place in South Africa in June and July 2010, and will attract a TV audience of billions; all following their favourite team's progress in the world's biggest football tournament.
Taking place every four years, the FIFA World Cup Finals tournament starts with a group stage involving 32 countries split into eight groups, each consisting of four teams. The first and second placed teams from each group progress to the second round knock-out stage, after which follows the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
As South Africa is host for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals, their football team receive automatic qualification into the tournament. They are the only team to earn free entry to the tournament as even existing world champions Italy - who lifted the trophy in Germany in 2006 - had to qualify. The remaining 30 countries have also all undergone a two-year qualification process; competing against other teams from the same continent to earn their place in the final tournament.
During the 2010 tournament the majority of people in England will have their attention will be on Group C, which as well as containing the Three Lions also contains Algeria, Solvenia and the USA. That draw has led to many believing that England has a better chance of progressing to the knock-out stage than ever before. Indeed, the chance of England going all the way has prompted many who would have been quite happy in previous years to be armchair fans to investigate whether they can attend the tournament in person.
Although many FIFA World Cup 2010 packages have already been snapped up, if you have a few thousand pounds to spare it is still possible to attend the tournament and follow England. Arranging travel, accommodation and match tickets independently is out of the question and indeed FIFA and the English FA recommend that you only buy tickets and travel from official sources.
However, if you are tempted to travel to South Africa, remember that even though the tournament is taking place in June and July, that is the middle of winter in the Southern hemisphere. So, pack raincoats and warm clothes rather than safari shorts! Because of the distances between venues you will also need to be ready to undertake a fair degree of travel, and although it is possible by road air travel would be far more preferable.
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