2010 Soccer World Cup start date

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Fifa announced that the 2010 Soccer World Cup will start on June 11 2010 and finish on July 11 2010, and has granted South Africa an automatic berth as the host nation.

Fifa's executive committee decided to maintain the qualifying set-up used in Germany, with a berth for the host country plus five other Africa teams, five European region qualifiers, five Asian and Oceania teams, and a total of eight for South America and the Central American region.

Nothing has been changed, the decision effectively gives Africa one extra team in 2010 and Europe one less, although that regional balance is likely to change again in subsequent World Cup events.

Africa, without South Africa, will again combine qualifying for the African Nations Cup from October 2007 with World Cup qualifiers.

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With anticipation growing ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™, the official Match Schedule has been released. To find out where the games will be played in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Mangaung/Bloemfontein, Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Rustenburg, Tshwane/Pretoria between 11 June and 11 July 2010.

See http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/index.html