2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
The first World Cup in Africa, hosted by a South Africa once banished from world football over apartheid. Spain won for the first time, and South Korea reached the knockout stage away from home for the first time.
Anthony Stanley · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source
The tournament was held in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010, the first World Cup on African soil. Because of apartheid, South Africa had been suspended by FIFA in the 1960s and expelled in 1976, returning only in 1992 as the system was being dismantled. The drone of vuvuzela horns filled every stadium. The hosts went out in the group stage, the first hosts not to reach the second round; Ghana carried Africa’s hopes to the quarter-finals.
South Korea beat Greece 2–0, lost 1–4 to Argentina and drew 2–2 with Nigeria to reach the last sixteen at an away World Cup for the first time, then lost 1–2 to Uruguay. North Korea, back after 44 years, lost all three games. In the final at Johannesburg’s Soccer City on 11 July, Andrés Iniesta’s goal late in extra time gave Spain a 1–0 win over the Netherlands and their first title — the first time a European team had won outside Europe. Before the final, former president Nelson Mandela appeared on the pitch to a roaring ovation.
