The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the nineteenth FIFA World Cup and was held in Germany from 11 June to 11 July 2010. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be hosted on the continent of Africa. The tournament was won by Spain, claiming their first title, beating the Netherlands 1-0 after extra time in the final at Soccer City, Johannesburg.
- 1. Host selection
- 2. Qualifying
- 3. Wales and the 2010 World Cup
- 4. Wales players used during qualifying
Africa was chosen as the host for the 2010 World Cup as part of a then FIFA policy to rotate the event among football confederations. Interest was expressed by Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and a joint bid from Libya and Tunisia.
Following the decision of the FIFA Executive Committee not to allow co-hosted tournaments, Tunisia withdrew from the bidding process and Libya's solo bid was discounted.
A FIFA Executive Meeting in Zurich on 15 May 2004 South Africa won the right to host the event receiving 14 votes whilst Morocco received 10 votes and Egypt no votes.
Two hundred and five1 countries entered the qualifying competition.
Hosts, South Africa, qualified automatically whilst the remaining 31 places, were allocated with 13 to Europe (UEFA), four to South America (CONMEBOL), three to the North and Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF), five to Africa (CAF) and four to Asia (AFC) whilst one qualifier from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) would face one team from the AFC qualifiers in an intercontinental play off and one qualifier from CONMEBOL would face a qualifier from CONCACAF for the final two places.
Fifty three teams entered the European qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The teams were divided into nine groups; eight groups of six teams and one group of five teams. The group winners would qualify whilst the six best runners-up would advance to the UEFA play-offs.
Wales were placed in Pot D as fourth seeds, and were drawn in Group 4 alongside Germany, Russia, Finland, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. This would be Wales' first meeting with Liechtenstein.
Uefa qualifying Group 4
| no. | date | score | scorers (wales) | venue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06/09/2008 | Liechtenstein 0-6 Germany | Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz | WCQ | ||
| 562 | 06/09/2008 | Wales 1-0 Azerbaijan | Vokes | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff | WCQ |
| 10/09/2008 | Azerbaijan 0-0 Liechtenstein | Tofik Bakhramov, Baku | WCQ | ||
| 10/09/2008 | Finland 3-3 Germany | Olympiastadion, Helsinki | WCQ | ||
| 563 | 10/09/2008 | Russia 2-1 Wales | Ledley | Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow | WCQ |
| 11/10/2008 | Finland 1-0 Azerbaijan | Olympiastadion, Helsinki | WCQ | ||
| 11/10/2008 | Germany 2-1 Russia | Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund | WCQ | ||
| 564 | 11/10/2008 | Wales 2-0 Liechtenstein | Edwards, og | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff | WCQ |
| 565 | 15/10/2008 | Germany 1-0 Wales | Borussia-Park, Mönchengladbach | WCQ | |
| 15/10/2008 | Russia 3-0 Finland | Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow | WCQ | ||
| 28/03/2009 | Germany 4-0 Liechtenstein | Zentralstadion, Leipzig | WCQ | ||
| 28/03/2009 | Russia 2-0 Azerbaijan | Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow | WCQ | ||
| 568 | 28/03/2009 | Wales 0-2 Finland | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff | WCQ | |
| 01/04/2009 | Liechtenstein 0-1 Russia | Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz | WCQ | ||
| 569 | 01/04/2009 | Wales 0-2 Germany | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff | WCQ | |
| 571 | 06/06/2009 | Azerbaijan 0-1 Wales | Edwards | Tofik Bakhramov, Baku | WCQ |
| 06/06/2009 | Finland 2-1 Liechtenstein | Olympiastadion, Helsinki | WCQ | ||
| 10/06/2009 | Finland 0-3 Russia | Olympiastadion, Helsinki | WCQ | ||
| 12/08/2009 | Azerbaijan 0-2 Germany | Tofik Bakhramov, Baku | WCQ | ||
| 05/09/2009 | Azerbaijan 1-2 Finland | Lankaran City Stadium, Lankaran | WCQ | ||
| 05/09/2009 | Russia 3-0 Liechtenstein | Petrovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg | WCQ | ||
| 09/09/2009 | Germany 4-0 Azerbaijan | AWD-Arena, Hanover | WCQ | ||
| 09/09/2008 | Liechtenstein 1-1 Finland | Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz | WCQ | ||
| 573 | 09/09/2009 | Wales 1-3 Russia | Collins | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff | WCQ |
| 574 | 10/10/2009 | Finland 2-1 Wales | Bellamy | Olympiastadion, Helsinki | WCQ |
| 10/10/2009 | Liechtenstein 0-2 Azerbaijan | Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz | WCQ | ||
| 10/10/2009 | Russia 0-1 Germany | Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow | WCQ | ||
| 14/10/2009 | Azerbaijan 1-1 Russia | Tofik Bakhramov, Baku | WCQ | ||
| 14/10/2009 | Germany 1-0 Finland | HSH Nordbank Arena, Hamburg | WCQ | ||
| 575 | 14/10/2009 | Liechtenstein 0-2 Wales | Vaughan, Ramsey | Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz | WCQ |
Group standings
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 5 | 26 |
| 2. | Russia | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 6 | 22 |
| 3. | Finland | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 14 | 18 |
| 4. | Wales | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 12 |
| 5. | Azerbaijan | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 14 | 5 |
| 6. | Liechtenstein | 10 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 23 | 2 |
Wales were placed in Pot D as fourth seeds, and were drawn in Group 4 alongside Germany, Russia, Finland, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. This would be Wales' first meeting with Liechtenstein.
Following a home win against Azerbaijan, a missed penalty by Gareth Bale proved costly in Wales' second match as Russia scored a late winner in Moscow meaning Wales returned home empty handed.
The game in Moscow proved noteable as Wrexham's Steve Evans became the first non-league player to play for Wales since 1930.
Only 12,500 fans turned out at the Millennium Stadium to witness an uninspiring victory over Liechtenstein and Wales' hopes of qualification were all but extinguished with a 0-1 defeat to Germany four days later.
Defeats at home to Germany and Russia sandwiched a victory over Azerbaijan in Baku which saw Wales field their youngest ever side for a competitive international but defeat at home to Finland meant Wales' hopes of even finishing third in the group were over.
Players used during qualifying
Wales used a total of 30 players during the qualifying campaign with no player playing in every minute of every game, however Chris Gunter played some part in all 10 matches.
Wrexham's Steve Evans became the first non-league player to play for Wales since 1930 when winning his seventh and final cap in Moscow. Brian Stock won his first cap in the home defeat to Russia.
Carl Robinson won his 50th cap during the home match against Liechtenstein.
| Player | AZE | RUS | LIE | GER | FIN | GER | AZE | RUS | FIN | LIE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gareth Bale | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 84 | ||
| Craig Bellamy | 82 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | |||||
| Simon Church | 82 | 90 | ||||||||
| James Collins | 8 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | |||
| David Cotterill | 36 | |||||||||
| Simon Davies | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 62 | |||
| Neal Eardley | 90 | 7 | 3 | |||||||
| Rob Earnshaw | 61 | 19 | 90 | 70 | ||||||
| Jermaine Easter | 90 | |||||||||
| David Edwards | 72 | 76 | 90 | 76 | 54 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 81 | |
| Ched Evans | 29 | 29 | 31 | 14 | 28 | |||||
| Steve Evans | 14 | |||||||||
| Carl Fletcher | 90 | 90 | 56 | 76 | 64 | |||||
| Danny Gabbidon | 74 | |||||||||
| Chris Gunter | 90 | 90 | 90 | 86 | 90 | 36 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 87 |
| Wayne Hennessey | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | |
| Owain Tudur Jones | 8 | |||||||||
| Andy King | 9 | |||||||||
| Jason Koumas | 89 | 90 | 90 | 90 | ||||||
| Joe Ledley | 90 | 90 | 71 | 90 | 90 | 90 | ||||
| Craig Morgan | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 54 | 90 | 90 | |||
| Boaz Myhill | 90 | |||||||||
| Lewin Nyatanga | 90 | 90 | 83 | 6 | ||||||
| Aaron Ramsey | 36 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | ||||
| Sam Ricketts | 45 | 4 | 54 | 90 | ||||||
| Carl Robinson | 1 | 45 | 34 | 14 | 26 | |||||
| Brian Stock | 90 | |||||||||
| David Vaughan | 90 | 90 | ||||||||
| Sam Vokes | 18 | 61 | 51 | 62 | 20 | 16 | 28 | |||
| Ashley Williams | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 |
1Of the 205 countries who entered, Bhutan, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Guam, Papua New Guinea and Sao Tome e Principe withdrew without playing a single match. Ethiopia were later disqualified despite playing four matches.
