In 1930 the greatest football competition ever, made its debut and was known as the World Cup and since then has run every four years apart from 1942 and 1946 due to the Second World War. The competition consists of 32 teams playing against each other over the period of about a month. The football world cup is the most widely-viewed and widely televised sporting event in the world. Reportedly over half a billion people watching the final each time the competition is held.

Brazil is the only team to have played in every tournament and have won the world cup a record five times. Italy are the current champions, and have won the tournament four times. World Cup 2010 is being held in South Africa between the 11^th of June and the 11^th of July. Look at the list below for the world cup groups.

WORLD CUP GROUPS 2010 TOURNAMENT

 Group A -  South Africa       Mexico          Uruguay              France

Group B -   Argentina           Nigeria          Korea                 Greece

Group C -   England             USA              Algeria               Slovenia

Group D -   Germany            Australia       Serbia               Ghana

Group E -    Netherlands       Denmark       Japan                Cameroon

Group F -    Italy                  Paraguay       New Zealand      Slovakia

Group G -   Brazil                 Korea            Cote d’Ivoire      Portugal

Group H –   Spain                Switzerland     Honduras         Chile

As you can see, there are eight groups that were selcted randomly out of a hat on the 4th of December 2009 in Cape Town South Africa. There is however a seeding system in place that put all teams in the tournament into 4 different 'pots', with eight teams in each pot. One team would be picked at random out of each pot for each group. These pots were based on results and previous performance in recent competitions and qualifying for the World Cup. For example, pot 1 contained South Africa (as holders), Argentina, England,Germany, the Netherlands,Italy, Brazil and Spain. This is so that the best teams don't all end up in the same group; as it would be damaging to the competition if the best teams didn't make it to later rounds because too many of them had been drawn together in the same world cup groups. It has been stated by the media that England has the “perfect start.” If you look at England’s group they have an easy way into the last 16 which is completely the opposite for a team like Brazil who are in the “death group” as there is three other highly thought of teams. This is what makes the football world cup so great as you have the element of luck helping teams. This year the favourites are Spain, Brazil and England. Spain have never won the world cup so maybe this year is their turn. England have some world class players and are always tipped as favourites but for some reason do not perform as well as expected. Maybe this is because the players don’t connect together, or the changes of so many managers over the years aren’t helping. Brazil has won the football world cup five times and won the competition most recently in 1994 and 2004. With the skills and players and management that Brazil have it is no wonder why they are a favourite of the competition. Below are some previous winners of the tournament over the past twenty years;

1990 Hosts Italy Final Germany 1 – 0 Argentina

1994 Hosts USA Final Brazil 3 – 2 Italy

1998 Hosts France Final France 3 – 0 Brazil

2002 Hosts Japan/S Korea Final Brazil 2 – 0 Germany

2006 Hosts Germany Final Italy 1 – 1 France (Italy win pens 5 - 3)

2010 Hosts South Africa Spain 1 – 0 Netherlands

The total prize money was confirmed by the FA as 420 million dollars. A sixty percent increase of the 2006 tournament. Those that have qualified for the football world cup are given one million and if they exit the competition in the group stages are given 8 million dollars. Thereafter the prize money looks like this:

Round of 16 9 Million Quarter Finals 18 Million

Semi Finals 20 Million Runners up 24 Million

Winners 30 Million

As you can see the money is quite a substantial amount and gives the team the management and the country more incentive to win the football world cup. However this competiton is about more than just money. It is the driving ambition of every footballer to one day play for their country and compete in this tournament of tournaments. The ultimate goal for the players,management and fans of each international team is to bring home the World Cup, although many smaller teams realisticly settle for the goal of surviving their group and into the last 16, as they are content with a 'strong showing.'  

A major concern about the competition this year is terrorism. Obviously after what has happened at the African Cup, some large issues regarding terroism have risen. The football world cup will expect to see over a million tourists come to South Africa to watch and experience the competition. South Africa is the wealthiest nation on the continent due to many factors, one of them being tourism. However the dark side is that it averages fifty murders a day and has the most unequal society in the world. This means that high security precautions are being taken and that tourists that are there for the football world cup know the dangers, including issues like the right public transport to use and the areas to stay out of. However the world cup 2010 is sure to be a memorable tournament, with a great atmosphere, quality football and inevitable tears of joy and sadness that come with every great tournament.

Ian Ryan is the webmaster at www.footballbettingtips.co.uk. This website and more importantly this article is here to educate and is here to act as a guide to the football world cup. Hope you enjoyed reading this and you learnt about the tournament and it helps you if you are considering gambling your hard earned cash.