Sep 3
FIFA World Cup Qualifying 2010 South Africa
Qualifying stage will be underway this weekend for the 2010 FIFA World Cup which is going to be hosted by South Africa. 32 teams from around the world will qualify for this month long tournament that is scheduled to be held from 11th June to 11th July 2010.
All the teams have been divided into zones according to their geographical location. So in all there are 6 zones from which the teams will advance into the 2010 finals. The 6 zones are as follows;
Africa
Asia
Europe
North, Central America and Caribbean
Oceania
South America
Each zone has been allotted different number of tickets to the finals. Asia has been provided with 4.5 tickets. This means 4 teams out of 43 teams of Asia zone will qualify for sure but the 5th team will have to play two legged play offs against the winner of Oceania zone.
Japan, Australia, Korea DPR and Korea Republic have already qualified for the 2010 finals from the Asia zone. The third placed team from both the qualifying groups of the Asia zone Saudi Arabia and Bahrain will contest in a two legged play off. The first leg will be played on 5th September in Bahrain and on 9th September the second leg will be played in Saudi Arabia. The winner will play against Oceania zone winner New Zealand over two legs. The winner will get a ticket to the 2010 finals.
