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

=======
AFRICA
=======

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.

=====
ASIA
=====

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.

==========
CONCACAF
==========

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.

==========
CONMEBOL
==========

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.

=========
OCEANIA
=========

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).

=======
UEFA
=======

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

Today's Preliminary World Cup Draw from Durban will decide the 2010 World Cup qualifying fate of 170 countries.

Rather than make a rather long post with all the draw details, outlining which teams are placed in which pots and who might meet who at which stage of their continent's 'qualification stages', we'll be covering the Qualifying Draw Live.

Between now and November 2009, there will be 861 qualifying matches to decide which 31 teams will join hosts South Africa at the 2010 World Cup Finals.

The 2010 World Cup Preliminaries have already kicked off for some nations, so there will be no draw for South America and the Oceania region.

The draw will start with Asia, followed by the countries in central and north America and the Caribbean.

All going well, the 53 European teams will start to learn their fate about an hour in to the proceedings and the evening will be rounded off with the African nations.

==========
In Summary
==========

CONMEBOL
The 10 South American teams have already started their league (home and away) last month.

The top four will qualify automatically and the fifth-placed team will go into a two-legged play-off with the fourth-placed side from CONCACAF.

OFC
The OFC Nations Cup is being used for the 2010 World Cup qualifier, with the winner (pretty much a two horse race between New Caledonia and New Zealand) playing one of the two, third-placed teams from Asia.

AFC
The First Stage started in October 2007 (Bhutan and Guam withdrew from the competition giving byes to Kuwait and Indonesia).

Those receiving byes and those winning the Second Stage now go into the draw; to play in 5 groups of 4 teams.

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.

CONCACAF
The 35 North, Central American and Caribbean teams will start their qualification games in February 2008; with the top three teams qualifying for South Africa 2010, while the fourth-placed team will go into a two-legged play-off with the fifth-place team from South America.

UEFA
With 53 teams playing for 13 places, the European draw is the big one.

Starting in August 2008, the teams from Europe will be playing each other home and away (in eight groups of six teams and one group of five).

The nine group winners will 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.

CAF
In Africa, the ten lowest-ranked teams were paired into five home and away ties (Swaziland and Seychelles received a bye after São Tomé e Príncipe and Central African Republic withdrew from the competition).

48 teams will now be drawn to play in 12 groups of four teams. 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.

Let The Draw Begin!

Technorati: World Cup, 2010, Qualifying, Draw

So Steve McClaren has just had the most 'disappointing day' of his career, bless him!

It must be a real disappointment to find an extra two million pounds in your bank account for NOT delivering the goods.

But at least he kept a straight face when he said it.

No glint in his eye, no emotion; just like when he stood under his umbrella at the side of the pitch, instead of throwing his jacket in the dug-out out and trying to fire up his rich boys to get the result he needed.

Or was this the result he secretly aspired to; a golden goodbye.

McClaren says he's now a better manager than he was 18 months ago; he's certainly richer, so was probably thinking about money management rather than player management.

There were some other classic quotes at the press conference:

I said at the beginning that it's my responsibility. I live and die by results (but I'm not dead yet).

I am a fan like everyone else (but I wouldn't be a man about it and resign. Besides, I'm now a fan of Croatia and will be supporting them this summer).

I'm not making any excuses (but I won't say I'm totally useless).

Fantastic support from all the players (just a shame they didn't show their support by getting it right on the pitch).

Most Disappointing Day

It was also the most disappointing day for those who hoped to profit from England's qualification; the landlords and sportswear manufacturers.

How they can say that they've lost money, or are going to lose money, is ridiculous.

They're just not going to make as much as they thought they would.

The Swiss Tourism people might even find out that they make more money from less Russians (as the very rich ones will travel and spend on luxury accommodation and goods) than fifteen to twenty thousand, beer-swilling campers from England.

The Swiss police will not be disappointed.

What's really disappointing is that England might not even be good enough to win a Home Championships.

And the biggest disappointment of all; some FA Chiefs still keep their fat-cat salaries, for doing sweet FA.

Time to McSack them too; without a penny. And while you're at, give the 'real' fans their money back!

Technorati: Steve McLaren, English Football, England, disappointment

This month will end the qualifying phase for the 2008 European Football Championship Finals, which will take place in Austria and Switzerland, from June 7th to June 29th.

Czech Republic, Greece, Germany and Romania have already qualified and we're waiting for 10 more teams to join them and the joint hosts: Austria and Switzerland.

So who is still in with a chance to qualify?

Group A:
Poland, Portugal, Serbia and Finland still have a chance of qualifying.

November 17th:
Finland vs Azerbaijan
Poland vs Belgium
Portugal vs Armenia
Serbia vs Kazakhstan

November 21st:
Armenia vs Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan vs Belgium
Portugal vs Finland
Serbia vs Poland

Group B:
Only France, Scotland and Italy have a chance of qualifying. Italy have a game in hand (at home to Faroe Islands) so Scotland really need to win against the Italians. A draw will do for the Scots, if France lose in Ukraine.

November 17th:
Lithuania vs Ukraine
Scotland vs Italy

November 21st:
Georgia vs Lithuania
Italy vs Faroe Islands
Ukraine vs France

Group C:
Greece have qualified while Norway and Turkey still have a chance of qualifying; but Turkey really need to win in Oslo.

November 17th:
Greece vs Malta
Moldova vs Hungary
Norway vs Turkey

November 21st:
Hungary vs Greece
Malta vs Norway
Turkey vs Bosnia-Herzegovina

Group D:
Czech Republic and Germany qualify for Euro 2008, with Czech Republic having the better head-to-head results between the two teams.

November 17th:
Czech Republic vs Slovakia
Germany vs Cyprus
Wales vs Republic of Ireland

November 21st:
Cyprus vs Czech Republic
Germany vs Wales
San Marino vs Slovakia

Group E:
Croatia, England and Russia still have a chance of qualifying, although England are really relying on Israel to at least get a draw against Russia; and then England need to beat Croatia at home.

November 17th:
Andorra vs Estonia
F.Y.R. Macedonia vs Croatia
Israel vs Russia

November 21st:
Andorra vs Russia
England vs Croatia
Israel vs F.Y.R. Macedonia


Group F:
Sweden, Spain, Denmark and Northern Ireland still have a chance of qualifying. Sweden only need a point to be sure of qualification, while Spain need two. If Northern Ireland and Denmark draw in Belfast, then Sweden and Spain will go through.

November 17th:
Latvia vs Liechtenstein
Northern Ireland vs Denmark
Spain vs Sweden<

November 21st:
Denmark vs Iceland
Spain vs Northern Ireland
Sweden vs Latvia

Group G:
Romania have qualified while Netherlands and Bulgaria still have a chance of qualifying; until Holland beat Luxembourg, then Bulgaria will be staying at home.

November 17th:
Albania vs Belarus
Bulgaria vs Romania
Netherlands vs Luxembourg

November 21st:
Belarus vs Netherlands
Romania vs Albania
Slovenia vs Bulgaria

Planning Your Trip to The 2008 European Championship Finals in Austria and Switzerland

The draw for the finals, which will determine who plays where, will be in Lucerne (Luzern, in German) on December 2nd, 2007.

Technorati: Euro 2008, European Championships, Qualifying