By Duncan Mackay
December 5 – England’s pairing with Algeria in the draw for 2010 World Cup seems set to give them the country’s 2018 World Cup bid the perfect opportunity to try to impress one of the 24 members of FIFA’s ruling Executive Committee who are due to vote next year on which countries should host the tournament.
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By Andrew Warshaw in Cape Town
December 5 – Scores of cameras clicked furiously as a media throng surged towards the instantly recognisable and impeccably dressed footballing galactico.
By Duncan Mackay
December 5 – Brazil and Germany have signed a cooperation agreement for the 2014 World Cup, it has been announced.
By Duncan Mackay
December 5 – The official match ball for next year’s World Cup finals designed by Adidas will be called Jabulani, it has been announced.
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By Andrew Warshaw in Cape Town
December 4 – No European team has ever won the World Cup outside of Europe. No host nation has ever failed to get past the first phase.
By David Owen in Cape Town
December 4 – South Africa and Mexico will contest the first-ever World Cup finals match on African soil in Johannesburg on June 11, after the draw for the 2010 tournament was completed tonight in Cape Town.
By Andrew Warshaw in Cape Town
December 4 – The bidding war for the 2018 World Cup burst into controversy today when the official United States presentation was interrupted by the arrival of Spain and Portugal’s main ambassadors.
By David Owen in Cape Town
December 4 – It was a cross between a bazaar and a travel trade conference. Today in Cape Town, on the manicured lawns of a governmental mansion, the bidders for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups finally got to see the whites of each other’s eyes.
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By Duncan Mackay
December 3 – David Beckham today continued his one-man campaign to win England its bid to host the 2018 World Cup when attended a ‘Coaching for Hope’ (CfH) session at the Khaylitsha Township, Cape Town to meet with youngsters and coaches involved with the scheme.
By Andrew Warshaw in Cape Town
December 3 – Holland and Belgium will resist all pressure to pull out of the running to stage the 2018 World Cup and insist they have just as strong a case as their European rivals.
By Andrew Warshaw on Robben Island
Decmber 3 – After years of club versus country conflict, football’s world governing body today agreed to hand over $40 million (£24 million) to clubs whose players compete in next year’s World Cup finals.
By Duncan Mackay
December 2 – David Beckham is set to stay in South Africa to help England’s 2018 World Cup bid despite the death of his 83-year-old grandfather, which has left him devastated.
By Andrew Warshaw in Cape Town
December 2 - Early yesterday evening in Johannesburg, Ruud Gullit, one of Holland’s most famous footballing ambassadors, shook his head in disbelief at rumours that Holland would not be seeded at next year’s World Cup finals.
By Duncan Mackay
December 2 – Diego Maradona (pictured), one of the greatest players in history and now Argentina’s coach, has been told by FIFA that he is not welcome in Cape Town at the draw for next year’s World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw in Johannesburg
December 2 – As public relations campaigns go, Russia’s 2018 World Cup delegation at the Soccerex conference in Johannesburg could not have done much more than name their imposing stand Red Square Lounge.