Soccer City - This Time Next Year

In exactly one year from now (June 11th, 2010), South Africa will be kicking off the nineteenth World Cup Finals.

In recent qualifying matches, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Holland have all secured their places, and England are just one win away from joining them.

With four teams already set to join South Africa in the finals, the fans can now look at the 2010 World Cup Finals fixtures and start to plan their trip.

I hope to be in South Africa in December, to look at the new stadiums and report on who will be playing South Africa this time next year, in the new Soccer City - Johannesburg.

First Teams Qualified For South Africa 2010

After the hosts (South Africa), Japan, Australia and South Korea became the first teams to reach the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.

With two rounds still to play in the Asian Qualifying Zone, Australia and Japan have secured the top two spots in Group A; where Bahrain, with a game in hand, could be in the third-place playoffs.

In Group B, North Korea or Saudi Arabia look most likely to join South Korea in automatic qualification, although Iran are still in with a mathmatical chance; if they win their last two games (against UAE and South Korea) while North Korea draw with Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia lose to South Korea.

Euro 2008 - Finally

In case you've just returned from Mars, the Euro 2008 Finals start today with Switzerland opening the tournament against Czech Republic; in Basle, at 6pm.

The weather is rather cold, especially for this time of year but the atmosphere is starting to warm-up.

Switzerland has a large guest-worker population, so there are plenty of flags around reresenting the various nations competing in the finals.

If you're visiting Switzerland over the coming weeks and can't get a ticket to one of the matches, you may want to check out the specially constructed mini-stadiums around the country (UBS Arena) in Aarau, Biel/Bienne, Buchs, Chur, Glarus, Kreuzlingen, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Lausanne, Locarno, Lugano, Nyon, Sion, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Thun and Zug.

Of course we'll be bringing you all the games live, if you just want to tune in from your computer.

Match Schedule by Date

Saturday, 7th June
Group A
Basle: Switzerland vs Czech Republic (18.00)
Geneva: Portugal vs Turkey (20.45)

Sunday, 8th June
Group B
Klagenfurt: Germany vs Poland (20.45)
Vienna: Austria vs Croatia (18.00)

Monday, 9th June
Group C
Berne: Netherlands vs Italy (20.45)
Zurich: Romania vs France (18.00)

Tuesday, 10th June
Group D
Innsbruck: Spain vs Russia (18.00)
Salzburg: Greece vs Sweden (20.45)

Wednesday, 11th June
Group A
Basle: Switzerland vs Turkey (20.45)
Geneva: Czech Republic vs Portugal (18.00)

Thursday, 12th June
Group B
Klagenfurt: Croatia vs Germany (18.00)
Vienna: Austria vs Poland (20.45)

Friday, 13th June
Group C
Berne: Netherlands vs France (20.45)
Zurich: Italy vs Romania (18.00)

Saturday, 14th June
Group D
Innsbruck: Sweden vs Spain (18.00)
Salzburg: Greece vs Russia (20.45)

Sunday, 15th June
Group A
Basle: Switzerland vs Portugal (20.45)
Geneva: Turkey vs Czech Republic (20.45)

Monday, 16th June
Group B
Klagenfurt: Poland vs Croatia (20.45)
Vienna: Austria vs Germany (20.45)

Tuesday, 17th June
Group C
Berne: Netherlands vs Romania (20.45)
Zurich: France vs Italy (20.45)

Wednesday, 18th June
Group D
Innsbruck: Russia vs Sweden (20.45)
Salzburg: Greece vs Spain (20.45)

Quarter-finals
Group winners stay in the country they played their group games in, while teams finishing second will be travelling across the border.

The runner up of Group A will have to travel from Switzerland to Vienna for the quarter-final and (if they win that) back to Basel for the semi-final.; then back to Vienna for the final.

Thursday, 19th June (QF1)
Basle: Winner Group A vs Runner-up Group B (20.45)

Friday, 20th June (QF2)
Vienna: Winner Group B vs Runner-up Group A (20.45)

Saturday, 21st June (QF3)
Basle: Winner Group C vs Runner-up Group D (20.45)

Sunday, 22nd June (QF4)
Vienna: Winner Group D vs Runner-up Group C (20.45)

Semi-finals
Wednesday, 25th June (SF1)
Basle: Winner of QF1 vs Winner of QF2 (20.45)

Thursday, 26th June (SF2)
Vienna: Winner of QF3 vs Winner of QF4 (20.45)

2008 European Championships Final
Sunday, 29th June
Vienna: Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2 (20.45)

Euro 2008 Draw

Live from Luzern, after the Vienna Boys Choir sang their classical number, the multi-national presentation started with a reminder of just how special the European Championships are.

Oh the black and white footage from Finals gone by; a classic in itself.

173 goals have been scored in the previous 12 European Championships Finals.

A draw can never be as exciting as the football itself but the draw can help to bring the excitement together and that's what this long-drawn out event is all about.

Next up was José Carreras; one of the original Three Tenors; rolling rhythmically through the full scale of his tenor sound.

Fifty minutes into the live event and we start to get a taste of the goals; that the qualified teams have scored, to get themselves into the Euro 2008 Finals draw - a 'mini World Cup'.

Swiss tennis star, Roger Federer introduced the Swiss host cities while Austrian ski-ace, Hermann Maier did the same for his home country.

Fifty-five minutes gone and another musical interlude with a tribute to Switzerland's Wilhelm Tell.

BBC Two's viewers came to the event one hour into the show, but with no home nations' teams in the draw I doubt they'd feel that they'd missed much.

Enter the official match ball - Europass. The BBC didn't show that but highlighted where the British and Irish teams failed to qualify.

Players from all the previous winning teams were presented to the audience. Again, no-one from Britain or Ireland; so BBC viewers didn't get to see that either.

With the European Championship trophy in place, the draw could officially get under way - 12.38pm local time. This is the start of Euro 2008.

But first the technicalities need to be explained - 12.40pm.

The positions in the group will determine the match schedule - of course.

12.43pm - Pot 1 to determine C1 and D1.

Netherlands go into Group C (C1) and reigning champions Greece go into Group D (D1).

Turkey, semi-finalists of the World Cup 2002 go into Switzerland's group - as A4.

Poland go into Austria's group - as B4.

France go into Group C - as C4.

And Russia into Group D - D4.

All teams in positions one and four are known.

Portugal go into Group A - as A3

A small gasp goes out as Germany get drawn into Austria's group - as B3.

Romania into Group C - again as position 3.

Spain, who have played more European Champuionship matches than any other country go into D3.

All remaining teams will take the 2nd position.

And now for the opening match: Switzerland vs Czech Republic.

Croatia into Group B, Italy into Group C with France (another deep breath from the crowd) and Sweden into Group D.

So, just to recap:

Group A:
Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey.

Group B:
Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland.

Group C:
Netherlands, Italy, Romania, France.

Group D:
Greece, Sweden, Spain, Russia.

Technorati: Euro 2008, live draw

2010 World Cup Qualifying

Here's the FULL qualifying draw for the 2010 World Cup Finals to be held in South Africa.

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AFRICA
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Group 1:
Cameroon, Cape Verde, Tanzania, Mauritius.

Group 2:
Guinea, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Kenya.

Group 3:
Angola, Benin, Uganda, Niger.

Group 4:
Nigeria, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone.

Group 5:
Ghana, Libya, Gabon, Lesotho.

Group 6:
Senegal, Algeria, Liberia, Gambia.

Group 7:
Côte d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Botswana, Madagascar.

Group 8:
Morocco, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mauritania.

Group 9:
Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Seychelles.

Group 10:
Mali, Congo, Sudan, Chad.

Group 11:
Togo, Zambia, Eritrea, Swaziland.

Group 12:
Egypt, DR Congo, Malawi, Djibouti.

The twelve group winners and eight best runners-up (20 teams) then play in another round-robin, home and away competition - five groups of four teams; with the five group winners qualifying for the 2010 World Cup Finals.

Note:
South Africa will participate in the Preliminary Competition as it also serves as the qualifying competition for the Africa Cup of Nations. If they qualify for Stage Three, South Africa will play in its group; with points counting towards the Africa Cup of Nations - but not the World Cup, where they've already qualified as hosts.

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ASIA
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Group 1:
Australia, China, Iraq, Qatar.

Group 2:
Japan, Bahrain, Oman, Thailand.

Group 3:
South Korea, North Korea, Jordan, Turkmenistan.

Group 4:
Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Singapore.

Group 5:
Iran, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Syria.

The winners and runners-up then go into two round-robin, home-and-away groups of 5 teams; with the two winners and runners-up automatically qualifying for the 2010 World Cup Finals.

The two, third-placed teams then play home and away; with the winner advancing to the inter-confederation playoff with the top team from Oceania.

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CONCACAF
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1A - USA vs (Dominica or Barbados).
1B - Guatemala vs (Turks & Caicos Islands or St. Lucia).
1C - Trinidad & Tobago vs (Bermuda or Cayman Islands).
1D - (Aruba or Antigua & Barbuda) vs Cuba.

2A - (Belize or St. Kitts & Nevis) vs Mexico.
2B - Jamaica vs (Bahamas or British Virgin Islands).
2C - Honduras vs (Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico).
2D - Canada vs St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

3A - (US Virgin Islands or Grenada) vs Costa Rica.
3B - (Suriname or Montserrat) vs Guyana.
3C - Panama vs (El Salvador or Anguilla).
3D - Haiti vs (Nicaragua or Netherlands Antilles).

The 12 sub-group winners are then grouped into three round-robin, home and away groups of four teams.

The three group winners and runners up go into another group of six; with the top three teams qualifying for the 2010 World Cup Finals.

The fourth-placed team enters a play-off against the fifth-placed team in CONMEBOL.

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CONMEBOL
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Ten South American countries compete on a league basis, playing each other home and away, with the top four qualifying for the 2010 World Cup Finals automatically.

Paraguay are currently leading Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela; with Uruguay, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia trying desperately to keep up.

The fifth placed team faces a two-legged play-off; with the fourth placed team from the CONCACAF region.

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OCEANIA
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The winner of the OFC Nations Cup plays one of the two, third-placed teams from Asia for a chance to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals.

It's currently New Zealand (9pts) and New Caledonia (4 pts) leading Fiji (1pt) and Vanuatu (0pts).

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UEFA
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Group 1:
Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania, Malta.

Group 2:
Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg.

Group 3:
Czech Republic, Poland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino.

Group 4:
Germany, Russia, Finland, Wales, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein.

Group 5:
Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia.

Group 6:
Croatia, England, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra.

Group 7:
France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands.

Group 8:
Italy, Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro.

Group 9:
Netherlands, Scotland, Norway, FYR Macedonia, Iceland.

The nine group winners automatically qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals, while the eight best second-placed teams will enter four, home and away play-offs for the right to join them.

Technorati: 2010 World Cup Qualiying