Johannesburg’s Soccer City Opens Its Gates For FIFA World Cup 2010

Finally the most awaited mega Soccer tournament, the World Cup 2010 kicks off today in Johannesburg, South Africa hosting the opening match. The Johannesburg Soccer City has a 94,000 capacity and Nelson Mandela, 91, the former President of the country attends the part of festivities of the opening ceremony before the first match between South Africa and Mexico at 1500 BST.

Along with him the present South African president- Jacob Zuma and Archbishop Desmond Tutu will also attend the opening match in the Soccer City. Reports say that this opening ceremony is going to be the biggest and wonderful one of all the pre-match opening ceremonies which are done before. In this opening ceremony there will be 1,500 performers along with a number of singing superstars including Alicia Keys, TKZee, Black Eyed Peas, Osibia, Hip Hop Pantsula and Khaled from Algeria. Of all these performances Shakira presenting “Waka Waka This Time for Africa” song with Freshlyground- a local group would remain highlight for the show. Altogether there are 32 countries playing for the 2010 FIFA World Cup which are further grouped into 8 different categories.

The Adidas Jabulani is the official ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. “Jabulani” is the ball name which means “to celebrate” in Zulu people’s language, South Africa.

Magic Behind 11:

• 11 official languages of South Africa
• 11 players in a football team
• 11 colors were used on the Jabulani ball
• 11 June,2010:First Match
• 11 July,2010 :Final Match

India being a cricket crazy country is very keen for the kick off of the FIFA World Cup this year and media had been very successful in promoting this event in the country. Although the cricket event Asia Cup is commencing from June 15th media is taking much interest in promoting the FIFA World Cup event in the country and has succeeded in its attempt. The difference in stats form last world cup compared to this year clearly tells us about this. As reported that India is in the 3rd place in Google Search Volume Index list behind of South Africa and Indonesia in searching the content related to the FIFA World Cup 2010.

In the same index during last World Cup India was not even in the top 10 of the list which shows us the grown passion towards football in the country. Among the states of India, Karnataka (Bangalore) topped the table in Google Search Volume Index followed by Taminadu, Delhi and Maharashtra leaving aside the football passionate states Kerala, Goa and West Bengal out of the top four. Even though the national team is not participating in the event the World Cup fever is rising up and the favorite teams would be Spain, England and Brazil. Eyeing on the increased number of fans and craze for football in India, pubs and restaurants are getting ready with exciting offers, lucky draws and quiz competitions based on the game.

Google also seems to be excited about the World Cup as the traditional ‘Goooooogle’ at the end of the search page for accessing additional pages has been replaced with ‘Goooooooal!’ when any keywords related to FIFA World Cup are searched. Some of the keywords are ‘world cup’, ‘FIFA 2010’, ‘FIFA’, ‘Soccer 2010’, ‘Soccer World Cup’, ‘Soccer World Cup schedule’, ‘2010 FIFA world cup live’, ‘world cup 2010 live match’,’South Africa 2010′, ‘world cup football 2010′ etc. Google has also replaced its Logo with a football doodle on the main search page indicating the start of the FIFA 2010 World Cup. YouTube and Orkut has also changed its logo indicating the FIFA World Cup.

FIFA World Cup 2010 Schedule:

Friday, June 11
Opening Ceremony, 14:00
A – South Africa vs. Mexico, 16:00 (Johannesburg – Soccer City)
A – Uruguay vs. France, 20:30 (Cape Town)

Saturday, June 12
B – South Korea vs. Greece, 13:30 (Port Elizabeth)
B – Argentina vs. Nigeria, 16:00 (Johannesburg – Ellis Park Stadium)
C – England vs. United States, 20:30 (Rustenburg)

Sunday, June 13
C – Algeria vs. Slovenia, 13:30 (Polokwane)
D – Serbia vs. Ghana, 16:00 (Pretoria)
D – Germany vs. Australia, 20:30 (Durban)

Monday, June 14
E – Netherlands vs. Denmark, 13:30 (Johannesburg – Soccer City)
E – Japan vs. Cameroon, 16:00 (Bloemfontein)
F – Italy vs. Paraguay, 20:30 (Cape Town)

Tuesday, June 15
F – New Zealand vs. Slovakia, 13:30 (Rustenburg)
G – Ivory Coast vs. Portugal, 16:00 (Port Elizabeth)
G – Brazil vs. North Korea, 20:30 (Johannesburg – Ellis Park Stadium)

Wednesday, June 16
H – Honduras vs. Chile, 13:30 (Nelspruit)
H – Spain vs. Switzerland, 16:00 (Durban)
A – South Africa vs. Uruguay, 20:30 (Pretoria)

Thursday, June 17
B – Argentina vs. South Korea, 13:30 (Johannesburg – Soccer City)
B – Nigeria vs. Greece, 16:00 (Bloemfontein)
A – Mexico vs. France, 20:30 (Polokwane)

Friday, June 18
D – Germany vs. Serbia, 13:30 (Port Elizabeth)
C – United States vs. Slovenia, 16:00 (Johannesburg – Ellis Park Stadium)
C – England vs. Algeria, 20:30 (Cape Town)
Saturday, June 19
E – Netherlands vs. Japan, 13:30 (Durban)
D – Australia vs. Ghana, 16:00 (Rustenburg)
E – Denmark vs. Cameroon, 20:30 (Pretoria)

Sunday, June 20
F – Paraguay vs. Slovakia, 13:30 (Bloemfontein)
F – Italy vs. New Zealand, 16:00 (Nelspruit)
G – Brazil vs. Ivory Coast, 20:30 (Johannesburg – Soccer City)

Monday, June 21
G – North Korea vs. Portugal, 13:30 (Cape Town)
H – Switzerland vs. Chile, 16:00 (Port Elizabeth)
H – Spain vs. Honduras, 20:30 (Johannesburg – Ellis Park Stadium)

Tuesday, June 22
A – Mexico vs. Uruguay, 16:00 (Rustenburg)
A – France vs. South Africa, 16:00 (Bloemfontein)
B – Nigeria vs. South Korea, 20:30 (Durban)
B – Greece vs. Argentina, 20:30 (Polokwane)

Wednesday, June 23
C – Slovenia vs. England, 16:00 (Port Elizabeth)
C – United States vs. Algeria, 16:00 (Pretoria)
D – Ghana vs. Germany, 20:30 (Johannesburg – Soccer City)
D – Australia vs. Serbia, 20:30 (Nelspruit)

Thursday, June 24
F – Slovakia vs. Italy, 16:00 (Johannesburg – Ellis Park Stadium)
F – Paraguay vs. New Zealand, 16:00 (Polokwane – Peter Mokaba Stadium)
E – Denmark vs. Japan, 20:30 (Rustenburg – Royal Bafokeng Stadium)
E – Cameroon vs. Netherlands, 20:30 (Cape Town)

Friday, June 25
G – Portugal vs. Brazil, 16:00 (Durban – Moses Mabhida Stadium)
G – North Korea vs. Ivory Coast, 16:00 (Nelspruit – Mbombela Stadium)
H – Chile vs. Spain, 20:30 (Pretoria – Loftus Versfeld Stadium)
H – Switzerland vs. Honduras, 20:30 (Bloemfontein – Vodacom Park)

Elimination rounds
Second round
Saturday, June 26
49 – Group A first vs. Group B second, 16:00 (Port Elizabeth – Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium)
50 – Group C first vs. Group D second, 20:30 (Rustenburg)

Sunday, June 27
51 – Group D first vs. Group C second, 16:00 (Bloemfontein)
52 – Group B first vs. Group A second, 20:30 (Johannesburg – Soccer City)

Monday, June 28
53 – Group E first vs. Group F second, 16:00 (Durban)
54 – Group G first vs. Group H second, 20:30 (Johannesburg – Ellis Park Stadium)

Tuesday, June 29
55 – Group F first vs. Group E second, 16:00 (Pretoria)
56 – Group H first vs. Group G second, 20:30 (Cape Town)

Wednesday, Thursday (June 30, July 1) – Rest Days

Quarterfinals
Friday, July 2
57 – Match 53 vs. Match 54 winners, 16:00 (Port Elizabeth)
58 – Match 49 vs. Match 50 winners, 20:30 (Johannesburg – Soccer City)

Saturday, July 3
59 – Match 52 vs. Match 51 winners, 16:00 (Cape Town)
60 – Match 55 vs. Match 56 winners, 20:30 (Johannesburg – Ellis Park Stadium)

Sunday, Monday (July 4, 5) – Rest Days

Semifinals
Tuesday, July 6
20:30 (Cape Town)

Wednesday, July 7
20:30 (Durban)

Thursday, Friday (July 8, 9) – Rest Days

Saturday, July 10
20:30, (Port Elizabeth)

Final
Sunday, July 11
20:30, (Johannesburg – Soccer City)

Waiting for the start,  hope you all enjoy with supporting and cheering your favorite teams.

Here are some of the guidelines to be followed by every individual entering into the stadium:

• Hold your ticket safe with you till the end of the match and when asked by the concerned officials produce it to them
• Sit only in the chair allotted to you and check the seat number properly before getting seated.
• Do not enter in to the restricted/prohibited areas inside the stadium.

The list of prohibited items into the stadium is mentioned below:

• Weapons, drugs and alcohol.
• Plastic bottles, cans and cups.
• Spray cans, fireworks or any other fire causing materials.
• Flags of size more than 2m x 1.5m.
• Drink and food from outside.
• Shirts with racist material banners.

Football World Cup 2010 Opening Ceremony :

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