South Africa Hosted 2010 World Cup
With great anticipation and colorful vuvzelas (long plastic trumpets) at the ready, South Africa hosted the 2010 Soccer World Cup and crowned Spain as the 2010 World Cup Champion!
This was the first time the World Cup finals will be held on the African continent and it is reported to be the biggest one yet! With 32 teams taking part after qualifying at the top of their respective 160 nation league events, the opening match kicked off on the 11th June 2010 and continued for a month with the final match taking place on the 11th July 2010.
A nation that is proud of its sport and eager to support its arrival in South Africa, are ensuring that the preparations for the event move along swiftly. Various new stadiums were built to bring soccer to every part of the country and to the loyal fans, who would otherwise watch it on TV or listen to it on the radio. The largest stadium that was built as the main showcase and where the opening ceremony was held is the magnificent Soccer City in Johannesburg. There were 10 stadiums in total spanning from Polokwane in Mpumalanga to Cape Town.
South Africa has held various World Cups and major tournaments in other sporting arenas and was correct that they were able to pull off a spectacular Soccer World Cup. Sports in South Africa are big business. It has from 1995 to 2007 held the Rugby World Cup which South Africa won, the African Cup of Nations which South African soccer team Bafana Bafana were handed the trophy, World Cup of Golf which the SA team emerged victorious, World Cup of Athletics where team Africa won, Cricket World Cup, President’s Cup, Women’s World Cup of Golf, A1 World Cup of Motorsport, Fina Swimming World Cup and Paralympic Swimming World Championships, Surfski World Cup in Durban and many other events.
Spain ended up defeating Brazil by a score of 3 to 1. England ended up defeating Argentina for third place.
