England world cup draw South Africa 2010

England has been drawn against the USA, Algeria and Slovenia for the opening stages of the Football World Cup in South Africa 2010.
The complete World Cup group draw for South Africa 2010 is as follows:

Group A – South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B – Argentina, South Korea, Nigeria, Greece
Group C – England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D – Germany, Australia, Ghana, Serbia
Group E – Holland, Japan, Cameroon, Denmark
Group F – Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia
Group G – Brazil, North Korea, Cote D´Ivoire, Portugal
Group H – Spain, Honduras, Chile, Switzerland.

The World Cup South Africa 2010 will be held between 11th June and 11th June, and thousands of football fans have started already started booking flights to South Africa for next Summer´s tournament after the England draw was finalised today. Ticket agencies have been inundated with requests for information and car hire firms have received hundreds of booking requests for South Africa 2010, from fans who are desperate not to miss out on the biggest football show on earth.

Whichever team you are following at the South Africa World Cup, 2010, including England, Spain, Germany, Holland and France, you will need to book car hire early so you can travel between Green Park Stadium, Cape Town, King Senzangakhona Stadium in Durban, Soccer City and Ellis Park in Johannesburg, The Free State Stadium, Mangaung/Bloemfontein, Loftus Versfeld in Tshwane/Pretoria, the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, Mbombela Stadium at Nelspruit, the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (encompassing Port Elizabeth), Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa will be the 19th FIFA World Cup, which is the premier international football tournament, held every four years. The 2010 World Cup in South Africa is the culmination of a long qualification process which began back in 2007, and started with 204 teams involved. Along with the 2008 summer Olympics, this is the biggest sporting event in the world.

South Africa beat Morocco, Egypt, and Libya/Tunisia in the initial bidding process to host the World Cup in 2010. The draw for the World Cup Finals has taken place today in Cape Town (4th December, 2009) so football fans can see who their teams are up against in the initial stages.

The host nation, South Africa will automatically qualify for the tournament, although they did take part in the qualifying process, as the qualifying matches also serve as the qualifying tournament for the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

Teams which qualified to take part in the South Africa World Cup Finals 2010 include: Australia, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Honduras, Mexico, United States, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Algeria, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay.

FIFA threatened Chile with disqualification from the World Cup on 26th November, 2009, when domestic club, Rangers, tried to get the Chilean Courts to annul their relegation from the first division in Chile for fielding an ineligible player. FIFA ordered the Chilean Football Federation to resolve the dispute within 72 hours or face sanctions, including suspension from the South Africa World Cup Finals, 2010. Rangers then dropped the case and accepted relegation.

On 30 November, 2009, the Republic of Ireland asked to be included in the finals as an extra competitor as they believe their chances of reaching the finals was denied by a Thierry Henry handball during their qualifying play-off match against France. Their request was rejected on December 1st, 2009.

The official mascot for the 2010 South Africa World Cup is ´Zakumi´ - an anthromorphised leopard with green hair.

If you are planning to travel to South Africa for the World Cup 2010, book your car hire as soon as you book your flights to avoid disappointment. Car hire in South Africa is likely to be more expensive closer to the tournament, so for peace of mind, and to make sure you don´t miss any of England´s matches, book car rentals in South Africa as soon as possible.