by TRAVIS CLARK

After three years of World Cup qualifying, the 32-team tournament field is set for next summer. Attention now turns to the December 4 draw in Cape Town, when the 32 nation field will learn their fate.

It was a hectic day across several continents as the final six spots were sewn up.

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by TRAVIS CLARK

After three years of World Cup qualifying, the 32-team tournament field is set for next summer. Attention now turns to the December 4 draw in Cape Town, when the 32 nation field will learn their fate.

It was a hectic day across several continents as the final six spots were sewn up.

Click to continue reading...

Just as the football at the 2010 World Cup will be great, someone will make lots of money. It is not going to be local businesses for sure. This excellent 13 minute short documentary ("Trademark 2010″) for Dutch TV channel, VPRO, covers the fantasy that local people–small businesspeople, informal traders–will make money or get jobs during the tournament.

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I already wrote about official world cup 2010 fixtures, but here are some more fixtures:
Bloemfontein (Mangaung)This is the match schedule at Bloemfontein's Free State Stadium.
14 Jun
17 Jun
20 Jun
22 Jun
25 Jun
27 Jun
E3 v E4
B4 v B2
F4 v F2
A4 v A1
H2 v H3
1D v 2C(4)
Cape TownThis is the fixture list at Cape Town Greenpoint stadium:
11 Jun
14 Jun
18 Jun
21 Jun
24 Jun
29 Jun
3 Jul
6 Jul
A3 v A4
F4 v F2
C1 v C3
G4 v G2
E4 v E1
1H v 2G(8)
2 v 4(B)
A v C(1)
DurbanThis is the fixture list at Durban Moses Mabhida Stadium:
13 Jun
16 Jun
19 Jun
22 Jun
25 Jun
28 Jun
7 Jul
D1 v D2
H1 v H2
E1 v E3
B2 v B3
G4 v G1
E1 v 2F(5)
B v D(1)
JohannesburgThis is the match schedule at Soccer City in Johannesburg:
11 Jun
14 Jun
17 Jun
20 Jun
23 Jun
27 Jun
2 Jul
11 Jul
A1 v A2
E1 v E2
B1 v B3
G1 v G3
D4 v D1
1B v 2A(2)
1 v 3(A)
WORLD CUP FINAL
This is the fixture list for World Cup matches at Ellis Park:
12 Jun
15 Jun
18 Jun
21 Jun
23 Jun
24 Jun
28 Jun
3 Jul
B1 v B2
G1 v G2
C4 v C2
H1 v H3
D4 v D1
F4 v F1
1G v 2H(7)
6 v 8(D)
NelspruitThis is the match schedule at Nelspruit's Mbombela Stadium. Click to continue reading...

Bjorn Heidelstrom is cycling from Oslo to Cape Town and collecting signed football jerseys from all teams of all levels along the way. All these shirts will be be sewn together to form the world's largest signed football-shirt - a symbol of the unity of the football family and its solidarity with the plight of young refugees.

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With less than 250 days left to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, the qualifying rounds are coming to an end in exciting matches that are determining who will come to South Africa next year and take their place in the Top 32 soccer teams in the world. This week will see the last of the 2010 qualifying games before the play-offs take place.

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Ukraine have beaten Portugal 5-4 to win the 2009 Homeless World Cup in Milan.

What is the Homeless World Cup?

The Homeless World Cup is an annual, international football tournament, uniting teams of people who are homeless and excluded to take a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and change their lives forever.

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With World Cup qualifying dominating the footie newswire this week, and European club competitions not set to resume until the weekend, I figured I'd take a quick look at The World Cup 2010: the teams that are "in," or "almost in," and how I think the field will shape up...
I'll be in Cape Town in June 2010 - that's for certain, so which national teams will be joining me? Click to continue reading...

Little more than nine months before the World Cup makes its first appearance in Africa, all but six of the 32 team spots are still to be decided. So far, Japan, Australia, North and South Korea and the Netherlands have captured places alongside host South Africa in the Dec. 4 draw at Cape Town, although several more teams are banging on the door. Click to continue reading...

As mentioned before, thousands of South African construction workers walked off their jobs today over pay disputes.
Here, more about the story including some interesting quotes from the Associated Press ...Â

South African construction workers went on an indefinite strike Wednesday at stadiums being built for the 2010 World Cup -- a move that could derail Africa's historic first World Cup tournament.

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I saw this article earlier on ESPNSoccernet. Apparently work has shut down at stadiums across South Africa today over wage negotiations. Workers are demanding a 13 percent pay increase while employers are offering 10.4 percent.

The strike means some of the World Cup venues for next summer's World Cup could see trouble in finishing on time for the first Cup in Africa.

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The wacky Sepp Blatter, FIFA's President, the same guy who last summer called Cristiano Ronaldo a slave - singlehandedly re-igniting my sportswriting career, is back at it again.
This time, Blatter says that a major concern ahead of next year's World Cup in South Africa is an accommodation shortage - and he is proposing the berthing of passenger cruise ships off Durban, Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth to deal with the issue - setting up floating mini-hotels. Click to continue reading...

This is the first in a series of posts looking at the progress of the construction for the three new stadiums being built in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.

Green Point Stadium, Cape Town

The stadium under construction is located in Green Point, between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean and close to Cape Town's city centre.

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