List of qualified teams

List of qualified teams

The following 32 teams qualified for the final tournament.

AFC (4)

* Australia
* Japan
* Korea DPR
* Korea Republic

CAF (6)

* Algeria
* Cameroon
* Côte d'Ivoire
* Ghana
* Nigeria
* South Africa (hosts)



CONCACAF (3)

* Honduras
* Mexico
* United States

CONMEBOL (5)

* Argentina
* Brazil
* Chile
* Paraguay
* Uruguay

OFC (1)

* New Zealand



UEFA (13)

* Denmark
* England
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Italy
* Netherlands
* Portugal
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Switzerland


Countries qualified for World Cup Country failed to qualify Countries which did not enter World Cup Country not a FIFA member

This is the first World Cup that does not include any teams that are qualifying for the first time, although two of the qualifiers (Slovakia and Serbia) have previously appeared only as parts of former competing nations. Slovakia was previously part of Czechoslovakia, and Serbia has competed as part of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. In both cases FIFA considers these teams to have retained the earlier nations' records.

Controversy surrounded final qualification matches played between France and the Republic of Ireland, Costa Rica and Uruguay and Egypt and Algeria in November 2009.
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Ireland requests replay of FIFA World Cup play-off with France
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In the second leg of the play-off between France and the Republic of Ireland, French captain Thierry Henry, unseen by the referee, illegally handled the ball in the lead up to the winning goal, which saw France make the final 32 teams ahead of Ireland. The incident caused widespread debate on how matches should be refereed at the highest level. FIFA rejected a request from the Football Association of Ireland to replay the match, [6] whilst a widely reported later request by Ireland to be included as an unprecedented 33rd World Cup entrant was later withdrawn.[7][8] Costa Rica complained over Uruguay's winning goal in the CONMEBOL–CONCACAF playoff, [9] whilst Egypt and Algeria's final match was surrounded by reports of crowd trouble.

In response to the incidents during qualification, and to a match fixing controversy, on 2 December 2009 FIFA called for an extraordinary general meeting of their Executive Committee. After the meeting, FIFA announced that they would be setting up an inquiry into technology and extra officials in the game, but they did not announce the widely-expected move of fast-tracking the introduction of goal-line referee's assistants, already being trialled in the Europa League, and instead restated that the competition in South Africa would be officiated as before, with just one referee, two assistants, and a fourth official.[10] On the subject of fair play, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said:

I appeal to all the players and coaches to observe this fair play. In 2010 we want to prove that football is more than just kicking a ball but has social and cultural value...So we ask the players 'please observe fair play' so they will be an example to the rest of the world.
—FIFA President Sepp Blatter, [11]