South Africa to play World Cup Qualifiers

As the host country for the 2010 World Cup, South Africa already has its spot in the competition booked. That isn’t stopping the country from taking part in World Cup qualifying, however.

Breaking with tradition, South Africa will be competing with the other African countries during World Cup qualifications. They will be the first host country in 70 years to participate in their own qualifying competition. The reason? The games are also being used to determine the field for the 2010 Nations Cup finals in Angola.

In the end this is probably a good thing for South Africa as it will mean more games leading up to the World Cup and less travel involved with the preparations.

Here’s how the qualifying for Africa will work:

For the first time, Africa has a full quota of 53 entries for the 2010 preliminaries, which will be divided into three stages.

The bottom 10 African teams in the FIFA rankings have been drawn into five preliminary round ties, which are to be played over two legs in October and November.

FIFA says the draw has been conducted and is expected to be announced in the next days.

The five winners will join 43 other countries in the first group phase, where the teams will be divided into 12 groups of four teams each at the World Cup draw in Durban on Nov. 25.

They will play six rounds of matches through 2008 with the 12 group winners plus eight best runners-up progressing to the last league stage.

The 20 remaining teams are to be divided into a final stage of five groups of four, with the resultant group winners going onto the World Cup in South Africa and the top three in each group qualifying for the 2010 Nations Cup finals in Angola.

Should South Africa finish top of their group, the runner-up would qualify for the 2010 World Cup, officials told Reuters.

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