As the host nation, South Africa qualifies automatically for the tournament. However, South
Africa did participate in World Cup qualifiers because the CAF qualifiers also serve as the qualifying tournament
for the 2010 African Cup of Nations. They were the first host since 1934 to participate in preliminary qualifying. As happened in the previous tournament, the
defending champions were not given an automatic berth, and Italy had to participate in qualification.
The qualification draw for the 2010 World Cup was held in Durban, South Africa, on 25 November
2007.
This is the first World Cup with no debutant associations, although two of the qualifiers (Slovakia
and Serbia) have previously appeared only as parts of former competing nations. In both cases FIFA considers these teams to have retained
the earlier nations' records.
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