SOUTH AFRICA
- Nickname – Bafana Bafana
- Current National Coach – Carlo Alberto Parreira
- FIFA world ranking – 85
- First appearance – 1998
- Times qualified for FWC – 2
- Bafana Bafana has appeared seven times in the African Cup of Nations, winning it once in 1996.
PLUS 31 VISITING CONTRIES!!
ALGERIA
Hello in Arabic: Labass (pronounced La – Bass) or French: Bonjour (pronounced bawn-zhoor)
- Nickname – The Desert Foxes
- Current National Coach – Rabah Saadene
- FIFA world ranking – 28
- First appearance – 1982
- Times qualified for FWC – 3
- Algeria has appeared 13 times in African Cup Nations, winning it once in 1990.
ARGENTINA
Hello in Spanish (Argentina): Buen Dia (pronounced bwehn dee-uh)
- Star players - Lionel Messi (regarded as best footballer in the world today) Javier Mascherano, Juan Sebastian Veron
- Current National Coach - Diego Armando Maradona (considered to be world’s best ever footballer)
- Argentina has reached four World Cup finals in all. They beat the Netherlands in 1978 and Germany in 1986 but lost to Uruguay in 1930 and to Germany in 1990.
AUSTRALIA
Hello in English: Hello or Good Day
- Nickname - Socceroos (Aussie green and gold army)
- Current National Coach - Pim Verbeek
- FIFA World Ranking - 21
- First Appearance -1974
- Times Qualified for FIFA World Cup - 2
First appearance in 1974 and again in 2006 after a 32 year absence
BRAZIL
Hello in Portuguese: Ola (pronounced OAL-lah)
- Nickname – Selecao (The Selection)
- FIFA world ranking - 2
- Current National Coach – Dunga
- Star Players – Ronaldhino, Robihno, Luis Faviano and KaKa
- The most successful national football team in the history of the World Cup, with five championships (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)
CAMEROON
Hello in French: Bonjour (pronounced as bawn-zhoor)
- Star players – Samuel Eto’o, Pierre Webó, Jean Makoun, Stephane Mbia, Alexandre Song.
- Current National Coach - Paul Le Guen
- The top African nation in FIFA’s rankings, they also bring Africa’s richest pedigree to the finals. They have appeared a continental-best five times in the World Cup, and no other African side has yet eclipsed their historic run to the Italy 1990 quarter-finals – though Senegal equaled the achievement in 2002.
CHILE
Hello in Spanish: Hola (pronounced oh-LAA ) or Buenos Dias (pronounced bwenas - dee – as)
- Current National Coach - Marcelo Bielsa
- Star players - Matias Fernandez, Alexis Sanchez, Humberto Suazo
- Chile will be returning to the World Cup after a 12 year absence. They have competed in the World Cup eight times.
COTE D’IVOIRE
Hello in French: Bonjour (pronounced as bawn-zhoor)
- Nickname – The Elephants
- Current National Coach – Vahid Halihodzic
- FIFA world ranking – 16
- First appearance – 2006
- Times qualified for FWC – 1
- Didier Drogba is the only other player to have acted as coach/player in an African Cup, after George Weah.
DENMARK
Hello in Danish: Goddag (pronounced goo-DAH)
- Nickname - Danish Dynamite.
Current National coach – Marten Olsen lead team of the 1980’s. Nicknamed the Olsen. Gang - a reference to the series of Danish movies.
ENGLAND
Hello in English: Hello
- Nickname - Three Lions (from team’s emblem)
England won the World Cup in 1966.
- England’s players donate all their international matches pay to charity - via the Team England Footballers Charity.
- World’s most iconic player David Beckham.
FRANCE
Hello in French: Bonjour (pronounced bawn-zhoor) or Salut (pronounced sa-LOO)
- Nickname – Les Bleus (the blues).
- First significant impact on the world stage in Sweden in 1958.
- Player Just Fontaine holds the goal scoring record for a single FIFA World Cup™ finals.
- 1998 World Champions – 2006 runners up led by star player Zinedine Zidane.
GHANA
Hello in English: Hello or Good day
- Nickname – The Black Stars
- Current National Coach – Milova Rajevac
- FIFA world ranking – 37
- First appearance – 2006
- Times qualified for FWC – 1
- Former captain, Kwesi Owusu, was the first footballer to score a goal at the Munich Olympic Stadium during the 1972 Olympic Games.
GERMANY
Hello in German: Guten tag (pronounced gootan taag)
- Nickname - “ Mannschaft” (literally meaning national team according to foreign media).
- Famous player - Franz Anton Beckenbauer – (Der Kaiser) credited for inventing the “sweeper” position also known as “liberio”.
- Germany has won the World Cup three times.
- Most World Cup match appearances: Lothar Matthäus - 25 (all-time record).
- Last country to host FIFA World Cup in 2006
GREECE
Hello in Greek: Geia Sou (pronounced ya su)
HONDURAS
Hello in Spanish: Hola (pronounced oh-LAA) or Buenos Dias (pronounced bwenas - dee – as)
- Nickname – Los Catrach
- FIFA world ranking - 39
- Current National Coach - Reinaldo Rueda
- Star Players – David Suazo, Carlos Pavon
- 2010 will be their second FIFA World Cup appearance, since 1982
ITALY
Hello in Italian: Buon Giorno (pronounced bwone jor-no)
- Nickname - The Azzurrie
- Defending Champions, having won the 2006 World Cup.
- Italy, along with Brazil, is the only team to have won the World Cup twice in succession.
- Four World Cup Titles
- Current National Coach - Marcello Lippi
- Star players – Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Gennaro Gattuso
JAPAN
Hello in Japanese: Konnichiwa (pronounced Kon-nichi-wa.)
- Nickname – Samurai Blue
- Current National Coach – Takeshi Okada
- FIFA World Ranking – 43
- First appearance – 1998
- Times qualified for FWC – 4
- AFC Asia Cup Champions three times: 1992, 2000, 2004
NMB hosted Japanese in an international friendly recently
KOREA DPR
Hello in Korean: Annyong Hashimnikka (pronounced An-YOH HASHim-ni-kah)
- Nickname – Chollima
- Current National Coach – Kim Jong-Hun
- FIFA World Ranking – 84
- First appearance – 1996
- Times qualified for FWC – 2
- Biggest win was against Gaum – winning 21-0 in 2005.
KOREAN REPUBLIC
Hello in Korean: Annyong Hashimnikka (pronounced An-YOH HASHim-ni-kah)
- Nickname: Tigers of Asia, Red Devils
- Current National Coach – Huh Jung-Moo
- FIFA World Ranking – 52
- First Appearance – 1954
- Times qualified for FWC – 7
- Captain Park Ji-Sung also plays for Manchester United
MEXICO
Hello in Spanish: Hola (pronounced oh-LAA) or Buenos Dias (pronounced bwenas - dee – as)
- Star players - Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Guillermo Ochoa, Efrain Juarez, Andres Guardado, Giovani dos Santos.
- Current National Coach - Javier Aguirre
- Mexico have qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals 14 times - more than any other side from the CONCACAF Zone.
- Mexico achieved their best-ever performances in the finals as tournament hosts in 1970 and 1986, reaching the last eight on both occasions.
NETHERLANDS
Hello in Dutch: Hallo (pronounced Ha-llo) or Goedendag (pronounced goe-den-dag)
- Nickname - The Flying Dutchmen.
- Currently ranked 3rd in the Fifa World Rankings.
- Other nickname includes: Clockwork Orange for its precision passing.
- Credited for inventing Total Football (Dutch:Totaalvoetbal), led by playmaker Johan Cruijff.
NEW ZEALAND
Hello in English: Hello or Good day
- Nickname – All Whites
- Current National Coach – Ricki Herbert
- FIFA World Ranking – 83
- First appearance – 1982
- Times qualified for FWC – 1
- New Zealand has competed in three Confederations Cups, in Mexico in 1999, France in 2003 and South Africa in 2009.
NIGERIA
Hello in English: Hello or Good day
- Nickname – Super Eagles
- Current National Coach – Shaibu Amodu
- FIFA world ranking – 22
- First appearance – 1994
- Times qualified for FWC – 3
- Nigeria was ranked fifth by FIFA in 1994.
PARAGUAY
Hello in Spanish: Hola (pronounced oh-LAA) or Buenos Dias (pronounced bwenas - dee – as)
- Nickname - Guaranies
- Reached second round of World Cup on three occasions (1986, 1998 and 2002) and never advanced to a stage beyond that.
- FIFA world ranking - 30
- Current National Coach - Gerardo Martino
- Star Player- Roque Santa Cruz
PORTUGAL
Hello in Portuguese: Ola (pronounced OAL-lah)
- Nickname - Team of Shields
- Most capped player Luís Figo Eusébio (of Mozambican origin) - nicknamed “The Black Panther", or "The Black Pearl”. As the top goal scorer in the 1996 World Cup, he helped Portugal reach third place.
SERBIA
Hello in Serbian: Zdravo (pronounced (ZDRAH-voh) or Merhaba (MEHR-hah bah)
- Nickname - Beli
- FIFA ranking: 20 (Highest Fifa Ranking: 8 (May 1998).
- Head Coach - Radomir Antic.
- Nemanja Vidic and Zoran Tosic (Manchester United players)
SPAIN
Hello in Spanish: Hola (pronounced oh-LAA) or Buenos Dias (pronounced bwenas - dee – as)
- Nickname La Furia Roja (The Red Fury).
- The dark horse of the football world.
- UEFA EURO 2008 champions.
- Yet to win a FIFA competition – having played in 12 out of the 18 editions so far.
SLOVAKIA
Hello in Slovak: Dobry Den (pronounced dob-ree den)
SLOVENIA
Hello in Slovene: Zhivjo (pronounced Gee-Vee-Oh) or Zdravo (pronounced ZDRAH-voh)
- Upstaged Russia to qualify for South Africa 2010.
- Played their first match in 1992 after the split of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991.
- Qualified for UEFA 200, beating Ukraine in the playoff.
- Qualified for 2002 World Cup, defeating Romania in a playoff.
- FIFA ranking: 33.
- Only team to beat Italy, in the 2006 World Cup, with a shock 1-0 victory before Italy were on their way to winning the tournament.
SWITZERLAND
Hello in Swiss: God Dag (pronounced goo-dagh)
- Nicknames - Schweizer Nati in German, La Nati in French and Squadra nazionale in Italian.
- In 2006, Switzerland set a FIFA World Cup record by being eliminated from the competition despite not conceding a goal.
- In October 2009, Switzerland booked their place at the 2010 World Cup finals with a goalless draw against Israel.
FIFA ranking: 18
URUGUAY
Hello in Spanish: Hola (pronounced oh-LAA) or Buenos Dias (pronounced bwenas - dee – as)
- Star players - Diego Lugano, Diego Forlan, Luis Suarez
- Current National Coach - Oscar Washington Tabarez
- Uruguay will be appearing in the FIFA World Cup for the 11th time in 2010. Uruguay hosted the inaugural FIFA World Cup finals in 1930 and went on to win the tournament after defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final.
USA
Hello in USA: Hello
- Nickname – The Yanks
- FIFA world ranking – 14
- Second-place finish at the FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009.
- Current National Coach – Bob Bradley
- Star Players – London Donovan, Carlos Bocanegra, DaMarcus Beasley
- The Yanks have appeared in the last five FIFA World Cups