Distribution of matches across South Africa
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September 20th, 2009
The schedule of matches for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa is already defined.
A final draw to take place on Dec. 4th 2009 will define the distribution of the teams across 8 groups. From June 11th to June 25th 2009, the 32 qualified teams will play the Group Matches, each country playing against the three other countries within the same group.
The distribution of matches will follow the same system adopted in the 2006 Germany World Cup: the six matches of each group will take place in six stadia in six different host cities (Brazil, for example, played matches of the Group Matches in Berlin, Munich and Dortmunt).
In South Africa, the first round of Group A (red squares) will see matches in Johannesburg and Cape Town, second round in Pretoria and Polokwane, third round in Rustenburg and Bloemfountain. Likewise, all teams of all groups will have to travel all across the country to play their matches.
It will be interesting to notice whether FIFA will use this same system in the Worl Cup 2014, in Brazil.
While the distance between Cape Town and Polokwane is about 1,700 km (a bit more than 1,000 miles), the distance between Manaus and Porto Alegre is more than 3,100 km (or nearly 2,000 miles); see map of the host cities in Brazil.
It will not be so easy to use this same system in Brazil, given the large distances involved. Travelling more often and farther can be a disadvantage (one of the reasons why Brazil had a bad performance in the 1938 World Cup was the excess of travel between matches).
Let’s see what FIFA will decide.
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:41 pm
[...] that number looked excessive for, among other reasons, the long distances between cities in Brazil (much longer than in South Africa) and the fact that eight host cities would be enough to accommodate eight Groups of Teams (as it [...]