BE SOUTH AFRICA!

The 19th World Cup will take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa. This will be the first time that a tournament has been hosted by na African nation. Thirty-two teams from across the globe make up the field for the 2010 World Cup finals. Six continents are represented and six past winners will take part, including hosts.

The official mascot, a leopard, has been designed and produced exclusively in the host country. It’s name is Zakumi. Do you know what the name of the mascot means? So, ZA means SOUTH AFRICA and KUMI means number TEN in some dialects of Africa. And how about the BALL? Its name is JABULAMI and means BRINGING JOY AND HAPPINESS TO EVERYBODY!!! COOL!

Back to 1930

Uruguay was the first host country of the inaugural World Cup tournament. The year was 1930. In the final, Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in Montevideo e became the first nation to win the

World Cup.

During the 18 tournaments that have been held, seven nations have won the title. Brazil are the only team to have played in every tournament and have won the World cup a record five times. Italy are the current champions and have won four titles, and Germany are the next with three.

The most recent World Cup has held in Germany in 2006, and the 2014 World Cup will be

hold in Brazil.

Here are some important sites that you can find all the information you need. They are:

http://www.cbf.com.br/

www.fifa.com/worldcup

www.macdonalds.com.br/futebol

Have a nice Cup!

Cheer Brazil!

(Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org. Accessed February, 2010.)