So last night saw the return legs of Soccer World Cup 2010 qualifying taking place with a selection of footballing giants still not having booked at place at the spectacle. Im fairly happy to say that both France and Portugal made it through meaning that we’ll see the likes of Ronaldo and Thierry Henry gracing our beautiful shores.

So the final 32 countries that will have the opportunity to contest for that history rich trophy and bragging rights in world football are as follows:

No.	Team	Qualified as	Qualification date	Appearance in finals	Consecutive Streak	Previous best performance	Current1 FIFA Ranking [2]
1	South Africa	*Host Host	0015 May 2004	03 3rd	012002 1 (Last: 2002)	15 Group Stage (1998, 2002)	85
2	Japan	AFC 2A AFC Fourth Round Group A Runners-Up	016 June 2009	04 4th	042006 4	14 Round of 16 (2002)	40
3	Australia	AFC 1A AFC Fourth Round Group A Winners	026 June 2009	03 3rd	022006 2	14 Round of 16 (2006)	24
4	Korea Republic	AFC 1B AFC Fourth Round Group B Winners	036 June 2009	08 8th	072006 7	09 Fourth Place (2002)	48
5	Netherlands	UEFA 9 UEFA Group 9 Winners	046 June 2009	09 9th	022006 2	06 Runners-Up (1974, 1978)	3
6	Korea DPR	AFC 2B AFC Fourth Round Group B Runners-Up	0517 June 2009	02 2nd	011966 1 (Last: 1966)	12 Quarter-finals (1966)	91
7	Brazil	CONMEBOL 1 CONMEBOL Winners	065 September 2009	19 19th	192006 19	01 Winners (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)	1
8	Ghana	CAF D CAF Third Round Group D Winners	076 September 2009	02 2nd	022006 2	14 Round of 16 (2006)	38
9	England	UEFA 6 UEFA Group 6 Winners	089 September 2009	13 13th	042006 4	05 Winners (1966)	7
10	Spain	UEFA 5 UEFA Group 5 Winners	099 September 2009	13 13th	092006 9	09 Fourth Place (1950)	2
11	Paraguay	CONMEBOL 3 CONMEBOL Third Place	109 September 2009	08 8th	042006 4	13 Round of 16 (1986, 1998, 2002)	21
12	Côte d’Ivoire	CAF E CAF Third Round Group E Winners	1110 October 2009	02 2nd	022006 2	16 Group Stage (2006)	19
13	Germany	UEFA 4 UEFA Group 4 Winners	1210 October 2009	17 17th2	152006 15	03 Winners (1954, 1974, 1990)	5
14	Denmark	UEFA 1 UEFA Group 1 Winners	1310 October 2009	04 4th	012002 1 (Last: 2002)	12 Quarter-finals (1998)	27
15	Serbia	UEFA 7 UEFA Group 7 Winners	1410 October 2009	11 11th3	022006 2	08 Fourth Place (19305, 1962)	20
16	Italy	UEFA 8 UEFA Group 8 Winners	1510 October 2009	17 17th	132006 13	02 Winners (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006)	4
17	Chile	CONMEBOL 2 CONMEBOL Runner-Up	1610 October 2009	08 8th	011998 1 (Last: 1998)	07 Third Place (1962)	17
18	Mexico	CONCACAF 2 CONCACAF Fourth Round Runners-Up	1710 October 2009	14 14th	052006 5	11 Quarter-finals (1970, 1986)	18
19	United States	CONCACAF 1 CONCACAF Fourth Round Winners	1810 October 2009	09 9th	061990 6	07 Third Place (19305)	11
20	Switzerland	UEFA 2 UEFA Group 2 Winners	1914 October 2009	09 9th	022006 2	10 Quarter-finals (1934, 1938, 1954)	13
21	Slovakia	UEFA 3 UEFA Group 3 Winners	2014 October 2009	09 9th4	011990 1 (Last: 1990)	06 Runners-Up (1934, 1962)	33
22	Argentina	CONMEBOL 4 CONMEBOL Fourth Place	2114 October 2009	15 15th	101974 10	04 Winners (1978, 1986)	6
23	Honduras	CONCACAF 3 CONCACAF Fourth Round Third Place	2214 October 2009	02 2nd	011982 1 (Last: 1982)	16 Group Stage (1982)	35
24	New Zealand	OFC 1 OFC v AFC Play-off Winner	2314 November 2009	02 2nd	011982 1 (Last: 1982)	16 Group Stage (1982)	83
25	Nigeria	CAF B CAF Third Round Group B Winners	2414 November 2009	04 4th	012002 1 (Last: 2002)	13 Round of 16 (1994, 1998)	32
26	Cameroon	CAF A CAF Third Round Group A Winners	2514 November 2009	06 6th	012002 1 (Last: 2002)	12 Quarter-finals (1990)	14
27	Algeria	CAF C CAF Third Round Group C Winners	2618 November 2009	03 3rd	011986 1 (Last: 1986)	15 Group Stage (1982, 1986)	29
28	Greece	UEFA P UEFA Play-off Winner	2718 November 2009	02 2nd	011994 1 (Last: 1994)	16 Group Stage (1994)	16
29	Slovenia	UEFA P UEFA Play-off Winner	2818 November 2009	02 2nd	012002 1 (Last: 2002)	16 Group Stage (2002)	49
30	Portugal	UEFA P UEFA Play-off Winner	2918 November 2009	05 5th	032006 3	07 Third Place (1966)	10
31	France	UEFA P UEFA Play-off Winner	3018 November 2009	13 13th	042006 4	04 Winners (1998)	9
32	Uruguay	CONMEBOL 5 CONMEBOL v CONCACAF Play-off Winner	3118 November 2009	11 11th	012002 1 (Last: 2002)	04 Winners (1930, 1950)	25

Thanks to Wikipedia for that graphic.

The draw for the World Cup 2010 groups will take place in Cape Town on the 4th of December 2009 at the CTICC- we’re definately going to show them a little taste of Mother City flavour when the event gets beamed across the globe as we wait to hear who else will share Bafana Bafana’s group. Now I just have to decide which country I am going to follow when I buy my World Cup country follower package next month and get to check out a few games at the stadiums around the country.

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