The 2010 World Cup will be a special event for Africa as the continent plays host to the biggest tournament in world football for the first time in its history.
The competition will take place in South Africa and though the destination is close to home, the road to the finals for African nations is long and winding.
2010 World Cup Qualification fixtures
The qualification process will also decide the 15 teams who will join host Angola to take part at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.
There are 48 teams involved in the first round which is a 12 group, round-robin, dual qualification process with only five places available for African teams at the World Cup.
The group winners and eight best runners up will qualify through to a further group stage where the teams will then be split in to five groups of four.
The five group winners will book a place at the finals, unless South Africa, who have already qualified for the World Cup as hosts, win a group at this stage, in which case a runner up will go through.
Despite being World Cup hosts South Africa still have to earn their place at the Nations Cup as the 15 teams for the event will be drafted from the top three teams from the final five groups.
Similarly, Angola, who automatically qualify as hosts for the Nations Cup in 2010, will be fighting to appear in their second consecutive World Cup finals.
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