FIFA World Cup is staged in Africa for the first time

For the first time in the history of the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA), the World Cup was staged in Africa. Five African nations vied for the right to host the FIFA World Cup 2010 when South Africa defeated Morocco and Egypt in an all-African bidding process. The 19th FIFA World Cup began on 11 June 2010 in South Africa. The first game of the tournament was between the South African team Bafana Bafana and Mexico at Soccer City Stadium, Gauteng, with Simphiwe Tshabalala scoring the first goal of the tournament for Bafana Bafana. Italy, winner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, was the main favourite. During his speech the FIFA President Sepp Blatter stated that “the FIFA World Cup is in South Africa.” Blatter went on to say:  “Congratulations to the African population, thank you to South Africa that we can stage this World Cup here. A dream came true even if he's not here tonight, but the spirit of Mandela is in Soccer City.” In the corridors of the football fraternity and in all spheres of politics, “1 Goal: Education for All”, was a much talked about campaign.  “1 Goal: Education for All”, supported by the Global Campaign for Education and FIFA, had a large number of achievements during the football celebration with 14 million signatures, 1 million of followers every week and 100.000 yellow cards sent to international leaders. The dramatic victory of Spain over Holland saw them winning the World Cup for the first time with the goal being scored by Andres Iniesta during extra-time.