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Thursday, June 10, 2010

FIFA World Cup 2010 Venues

FIFA World Cup 2010 Venues

Ellis Park - Johannesburg

Free State Stadium - Bloemfontein

Green Point Stadium - Cape Town

Loftus Versfeld Stadium - Pretoria

Mbombela Stadium - Nelspruit

Moses Mabhida Stadium - Durban

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium - Port Elizabeth

Peter Mokaba Stadium - Polokwane

Royal Bafokeng Stadium - Rustenburg

Soccer City - Johannesburg

FIFA names referee for first match of World Cup 2010

A referee from Uzbekistan, Ravshan Irmatov, will judge the first match of the 2010 World Cup, a qualifier between South Africa and Mexico, FIFA announced on Saturday.

Irmatov, who began his international career 7 years ago, judged the final Club World Cup 2008 between Manchester United and Liga Deportiva Universitaria.

He is considered the best referee of the Asian Football Confederation and is the sole representative of Uzbekistan in refereeing final matches in FIFA competitions.

His assistants in the first game of the 2010 World Cup will be Rafael Il'yasov from Uzbekistan and Bahadir Kochkor from Kyrgyzstan. The first match of the World Cup 2010 will be between Mexico and South Africa and will take place in Johannesburg on June 11th.

History of FIFA - The Blatter Years

On 8 June 1998 Joseph S. Blatter was elected as successor to Dr João Havelange and became the eighth FIFA President. This victory at the 51st FIFA Ordinary Congress in Paris elevated the Swiss, who had already served FIFA in various positions for 23 years, on to the highest rang in international football. Blatter is one of the most versatile and experienced exponents of international sport diplomacy and is totally committed to serving football, FIFA and the world's youth.

History of FIFA - 50th Anniversary

Rodolphe William Seeldrayers was the fourth President of FIFA, stepping into the shoes of Jules Rimet whom he had assisted as Vice-President for over 25 years. In his new function, he celebrated the 50th Anniversary of FIFA, which now counted 85 members. Yet his reign was brief, curtailed by his death in October 1955.

Seeldrayers' successor was Arthur Drewry who was elected President on 9 June 1956, but had already headed FIFA for over half a year on an interim basis. He chaired the Study Committee for the new FIFA Statutes and opened the sixth FIFA World Cup in Stockholm in 1958. Brazil captured their first world title in Sweden but it would prove the only finals of Drewry's presidency. He died on 25 March 1961 aged 70.

FIFA's operations were controlled for six months by the Swiss Ernst B Thommen who, as chairman of the Organising Committee for the 1954, 1958 and 1962 FIFA World Cups, gave great service to the world governing body. Then, on 28 September 1961, Sir Stanley Rous was elected the sixth President of FIFA.

Rous was an international referee in his younger years and in the late 1930s had helped rewrite the Laws of the Game. It was to his great delight that during his term of office, England won the world crown in 1966. As President, Rous oversaw further expansion. During this post-colonial period, the number of members grew steadily with affiliation to FIFA among the first steps taken by many newly independent nations. The television transmission of the FIFA World Cup also contributed considerably towards the worldwide expansion.

As a private institution, FIFA's means and possibilities were still very much restricted as it received neither governmental subsidies nor funds from other sources. Income came strictly from profits from the FIFA World Cup and this money had to be spread out over a four-year period. It took a great deal of self-sacrifice, therefore, to maintain FIFA's good work and Rous achieved this. In recognition of his merits, he was made Honorary President in Frankfurt on 11 June 1974. On that day, the Brazilian Dr Joao Havelange took over the reins of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association.

History of FIFA - The first FIFA World Cup

History of FIFA -

The first FIFA World Cup

The success of the Olympic Football Tournament intensified FlFA's wish for its own world championship. Questionnaires were sent to the affiliated associations, asking whether they agreed to the organisation of a tournament and under what conditions. A special committee examined the question, with President Jules Rimet the driving force. He was aided by the untiring Secretary of the French Football Federation, Henri Delaunay.

Following a remarkable proposal by the Executive Committee, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam on 28 May 1928 decided to stage a world championship organised by FIFA. Now, the organising country had to be chosen. Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden submitted their candidatures. Right from the start, Uruguay was the favourite and not simply for its Olympic gold medal wins in 1924 and 1928 - the country was celebrating its 100th anniversary of independence in 1930 at great expense.

Moreover, its national association was willing to cover all the costs, including the travel and accommodation of the participating teams. Any possible profit would be shared, while Uruguay would take on the deficit. These arguments were decisive. The FIFA Congress in Barcelona in 1929 assigned Uruguay as first host country of the FIFA World Cup ™. The other candidates had withdrawn.

With Europe in the midst of an economic crisis, not everything went to plan during the countdown to these first finals. Participation did not only involve a long sea journey for the Europeans; the clubs would have to renounce their best players for two months. Consequently, more and more associations broke their promise to participate and it took much manoeuvring by Rimet to ensure at least four European teams - France, Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia - joined him on the Conte Verde liner bound for Buenos Aires.

The first FIFA World Cup opened at the brand-new Estadio Centenario in Montevideo on 18 July 1930. It was the beginning of a new era in world football and the inaugural event proved a remarkable success, both in a sporting and a financial sense. Of course, the organisers were disappointed that only four European sides had participated. The anger in Montevideo was so intense in fact that four years later, world champions Uruguay became the first and only team to refuse to defend their title.

When the Congress convened in Budapest in 1930, it thanked Uruguay for staging the world championship for the first time in difficult conditions. It also noted its regret at seeing only a minimum number of teams participating from Europe.

The significance of the new tournament only increased following the setback FIFA suffered in the lead-up to the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. After failing to settle differences of opinion over the amateur status of footballers with the International Olympic Committee regarding the amateur status of football players, plans to organise the Olympic Football Tournament were abandoned.

FIFA chose Italy ahead of rival candidates Sweden to host the second FIFA World Cup and this time it took qualifying matches to arrive at the 16 finalists. Unlike in 1930 there were no groups and only knockout rounds, meaning Brazil and Argentina went home after playing just one match each. Once again, the home team prevailed, Italy winning the Final against Czechoslovakia in extra time. For the first time, the Final was transmitted on the radio.

Four years later, Rimet saw his wish fulfilled when the third FIFA World Cup took place in France, his home country. Again not everything ran according to plan: Austria had disappeared from the scene and so Sweden did not have an opponent in the first round. Uruguay still did not wish to participate and Argentina withdrew. This is why the national teams from Cuba and the Dutch East Indies came to France. This time, there was no home victory and Italy successfully defended their title.

The FIFA World Cup should have taken place for the fourth time in 1942 but the outbreak of World War Two meant otherwise. Although FIFA maintained its Zurich offices throughout the conflict, it was not until 1 July 1946 in Luxembourg that the Congress met again. Thirty-four associations were represented and they gave Rimet, who had been President for a quarter of a century already, a special Jubilee gift. From now on, the FIFA World Cup trophy would be called the Jules Rimet Cup.

As the only candidate, Brazil was chosen unanimously to host the next FIFA World Cup, to be staged in 1949 (and postponed to 1950 for time reasons). At the same time, Switzerland was given the option for 1954.

History of FIFA - Foundation

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in the rear of the headquarters of the Union Française de Sports Athlétiques at the Rue Saint Honoré 229 in Paris on 21 May 1904. The foundation act was signed by the authorised representatives of the following associations:

France - Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA)
Belgium - Union Belge des Sociétés de Sports (UBSSA)
Denmark - Dansk Boldspil Union (DBU)
Netherlands - Nederlandsche Voetbal Bond (NVB)
Spain - Madrid Football Club
Sweden - Svenska Bollspells Förbundet (SBF)
Switzerland - Association Suisse de Football (ASF)

Present at that historic meeting were: Robert Guérin and André Espir (France); Louis Muhlinghaus and Max Kahn (Belgium); Ludvig Sylow (Denmark); Carl Anton Wilhelm Hirschman (Netherlands); Victor E Schneider (Switzerland). Sylow also represented the SBF while Spir performed the same function for the Madrid Football Club.

When the idea of founding an international football federation began taking shape in Europe, the intention of those involved was to recognise the role of the English who had founded their Football Association back in 1863. Hirschman, secretary of the Netherlands Football Association, turned to the Football Association. Its secretary, FJ Wall, did accept the proposal but progress stalled while waiting for the Executive Committee of the Football Association, the International FA Board and the associations of Scotland, Wales and Ireland to give their opinion about the matter.

Guérin, secretary of the football department of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques and a journalist with Le Matin newspaper, did not want to wait any longer. He contacted the national associations on the continent in writing and asked them to consider the possibility of founding an umbrella organisation.

When Belgium and France met in the first official international match in Brussels on 1 May 1904, Guérin discussed the subject with his Belgian counterpart Louis Muhlinghaus. It was now definite that the English FA, under its president Lord Kinnaird, would not be participating in the foundation of an international federation. So Guérin took the opportunity and sent out invitations to the founding assembly. The process of organising the international game had begun.

The first FIFA Statutes were laid down and the following points determined: the reciprocal and exclusive recognition of the national associations represented and attending; clubs and players were forbidden to play simultaneously for different national associations; recognition by the other associations of a player's suspension announced by an association; and the playing of matches according to the Laws of the Game of the Football Association Ltd.

Each national association had to pay an annual fee of FF50. Already then there were thoughts of staging an international competition and Article 9 stipulated that FIFA alone was entitled to take over the organisation of such an event. It was decided that these regulations would only come into force as of 1 September 1904. Moreover, the first Statutes of FIFA were only of a provisional nature, in order to simplify the acceptance of additional members. On the day of foundation, the Deutscher Fussball-Bund (German FA) sent a telegram confirming that it would adhere to these Statutes in principle.

ESPN 3D 2010 FIFA World Cup Schedule

ESPN 3D 2010 FIFA World Cup Schedule:

Date	Time (all ET)	Match
Fri, June 11	9:30 a.m.	South Africa vs. Mexico
Sat, June 12	9:30 a.m.	Argentina vs. Nigeria
Sun, June 13	2 p.m.	Germany vs. Australia
Mon, June 14	7 a.m.	Netherlands vs. Denmark
Tues, June 15	2 p.m.	Brazil vs. North Korea
Wed, June 16	9:30 a.m.	Spain vs. Switzerland
Thurs, June 17	7 a.m.	Argentina vs. South Korea
Fri, June 18	9:30 a.m.	Slovenia vs. United States
Sat, June 19	7 a.m.	Netherlands vs. Japan
Sun, June 20	2 p.m.	Brazil vs . Ivory Coast
Mon, June 21	2 p.m.	Spain vs. Honduras
Tues, June 22	2 p.m.	Nigeria vs. South Korea
Wed, June 23	2 p.m.	Ghana vs. Germany
Thurs, June 24	9:30 a.m.	Slovakia vs. Italy
Fri, June 25	9:30 a.m.	Portugal vs. Brazil
Sun, June 27	2 p.m.	Round of 16 match
Mon, June 28	9:30 a.m.	Round of 16 match
	2 p.m.	Round of 16 match
Fri, July 2	2 p.m.	Quarterfinals
Sat, July 3	9:30 a.m.	Quarterfinals
Sat, July 3	2 p.m.	Quarterfinals
Tues, July 6	2 p.m.	Semifinals
Wed, July 7	2 p.m.	Semifinals
Sat, July 10	2 p.m.	3^rd place match
Sun, July 11	2 p.m.	Finals