From it’s humble beginnings in 1930 the Soccer World Cup has grown to be one of the most spectacular sporting events in the world. The 2010 World Cup promises to be the planet’s biggest sporting event ever. Well over a billion people are expected to follow the month long tournament between the world’s top 32 soccer playing nations.

The World Cup is the most important competition in international soccer and is organised by FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), the sport’s governing body.

The tournament takes place every four years. The previous tournament was held in 2006 in Germany and Italy won the World Cup. 2010 will be the first time that the final tournament will be hosted by an African nation.

More than 160 national teams take part in the regional (Continental Zone) qualifying rounds to qualify as one of the 32 teams that will take part in finals.

Lionel Messi feels that, man for man, there are no better teams at the FIFA World Cup™ than Argentina.

Argentina, world champions in 1978 and 1986, were far from impressive in qualifying for South Africa and not considered one of the main favourites to claim the title this summer.

However, Messi was warned against underestimating his side, saying in Clarin: “Player for player, there is no better national team than ours”.

Messi, the reigning FIFA World Player of the Year, has enjoyed another phenomenal year at club side Barcelona, winning the European Golden Boot with his 34 La Liga goals and also finishing as the leading scorer in the UEFA Champions League for the second successive year with a further eight.

Much is now expected of the 22-year-old in the FIFA World Cup, but Messi has shrugged that off, saying: “At this stage I don’t have to prove anything. I’ve come there to do things well for me and for my team-mates.”

Only seven teams have won the FIFA World Cup™, six of them at least once while hosting the tournament.

France (1998), Argentina (1978) and England (1966) were the last three first-time winners of football’s biggest prize, and each of those triumphs came on home turf.

The only teams to break their duck on foreign soil were West Germany in neighbouring Switzerland in 1954, and Brazil in Sweden four years later.

Multiple winners have dominated the most sought-after Trophy on the planet. Brazil now have five stars on their famous canary-yellow shirts, Italy four and Germany three, while Argentina joined inaugural champions Uruguay on two in 1986.

Tony Meola was just 21 when he captained the USA at the 1990 FIFA World Cup Italy™, becoming the youngest skipper in the tournament’s history.

The goalkeeper made his debut against Ecuador in 1988, and was a regular until after the 1990 finals, when he temporarily quit the sport to pursue a career in American Football. However, he returned to the national team – without the ponytail – in 1999.

Following his leadership exploits in 1990, Meola remains the youngest starting captain, as players who received the skipper’s armband during the course of the match are not officially regarded as captains.

Canterbury’s Aaron Clapham was the surprise inclusion when the New Zealand squad for next month’s 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ was announced in Auckland today.

Clapham, a former Under-20 international, joins Denmark-based Winston Reid as the only uncapped players named in Ricki Herbert’s 23-man squad for South Africa. The midfielder first appeared on the international radar when he was named in a 15-man training squad by Herbert for a 12-day camp for his Australasian-based players, which has just been completed.

The 23-year-old impressed in yesterday’s trial match where he lined up for New Zealand A against a New Zealand Football Championship All Stars XI and created his side’s second goal for Costa Barbarouses in the 2-0 win. Clapham aside, Herbert’s squad contained few surprises given the former All Whites defender’s pledge to select the 18 players who helped get New Zealand to the FIFA World Cup for just the second time.

While he backtracked on that slightly – omitting Aaron Scott – the bulk of the squad involved in qualifying was retained. Scott missed out following the unexpected recruitment of Europe-based defenders Tommy Smith, who made his debut against Mexico in March, and Reid.

The pair only recently pledged their allegiance to New Zealand after playing for England Under-18s and Denmark Under-20s, respectively. Defender David Mulligan was retained despite not featuring in 46 matches for his club, Wellington Phoenix, who Herbert also coaches. Jeremy Christie was another notable inclusion after being forced to ply his trade overseas at FC Tampa Bay Rowdies when he was axed from the Phoenix at the end of the 2008/09 A-League season.

Hamburg defender Dennis Aogo and Bayern Munich youngster Holger Badstuber were the surprise names in Germany coach Joachim Low’s provisional 27-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, which was announced today.

Low also named Bayern Munich veteran Hans-Jorg Butt among the three goalkeepers who are all vying to become the new number one after Rene Adler had to pull out due to injury.

The provisional Germany squad for South Africa 2010 is:

Goalkeepers: Hans-Jorg Butt, Manuel Neuer, Tim Wiese

Defenders: Per Mertesacker, Heiko Westermann, Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Andrea Beck, Arne Friedrich, Serdar Tasci, Marcell Jansen, Holger Badstuber, Dennis Aogo.

Midfielders: Michael Ballack, Sami Khedira, Piotr Trochowski, Marko Marin, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Christian Trasch, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos.

Forwards: Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Stefan Kiessling, Cacau, Thomas Muller, Mario Gomez.

The former Yugoslavia played 37 FIFA World Cup™ fixtures, reaching the semi-finals in 1930 and 1962 and the quarter-finals a further four times in total.

The break-up of the country resulted in a ban from competing at UEFA EURO 92, while they were also prevented from qualifying for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Yugoslavia reappeared in France four years later along with a now-independent Croatia, whose coach Miroslav Blazevic inspired the likes of Davor Suker, Robert Prosinecki and Zvonimir Boban to a third-placed finish.

This year, Serbia and Slovenia will represent the former Balkan state in South Africa.

Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Issa Hayatou today endorsed South Africa’s readiness to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, saying the tournament would provide Africa with an opportunity to prove itself not just on the playing field, but also in football administration.

Hayatou, who has been at the helm of African football since 1988, is in South Africa to receive the Order of the Companions of OR Tambo (Gold) from South African President Jacob Zuma in recognition of his contribution to the development of football and bringing the FIFA World Cup to Africa for the first time.

FIFA president Joseph Blatter will also be honoured by President Zuma on April 27 – Freedom Day in South Africa and the day on which the country held its first democratic elections in 1994 – but will not be attending tomorrow’s ceremony.

Speaking at a media briefing at the 2010 FIFA World Cup headquarters in Sandton, Johannesburg, Hayatou said he was honoured to receive the award, but stressed he was doing so on behalf of everybody who has worked to strengthen African football over the years.

“We need to reward the efforts of all Africans that have led us to where we are. I will accept this award for the African people and I want to assure them that we will double our efforts to ensure that African football will progress after the World Cup.”

“It’s an honour I cannot even begin to describe…how I wish we can take tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) celebration to the field and see one of the African countries reach the finals of the tournament.

“We (the African continent) have among the best players in the world and as for us administrators we will double our efforts to make progress in African game,” he said.

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Organising Committee Chief Executive Officer, Dr Danny Jordaan, thanked Hayatou for his support of South African football.

In 1991 Hayatou as the CAF president was part of the team which decided to accept the then newly formed South African Football Association into the continent’s governing body.

It was this decision which helped to expedite FIFA’s decision to unban South Africa from international football the following year.

“I want to thank President Hayatou for his support in 1991 and for helping us become members of CAF and later FIFA. It was only as members of FIFA that we could make our initial bid to host the World Cup in 2006 and we did so with the support of CAF. Your award tomorrow is recognition to all of those who have helped us,” Jordaan said.

Franz Beckenbauer captained Germany FR 50 times, but that statistic barely begins to scratch the surface of a remarkable career.

The unflappable and versatile Beckenbauer won 103 caps – the first German to achieve a century of appearances for his country – but it was his achievement in winning the FIFA World Cup™ as both player and manager that earns him a special place among the game’s all-time greats. Beckenbauer made his name with Bayern Munich in the 1960s and won his first international cap in 1965.

A year later he graced the biggest stage as part of the Germany FR side that lost to England in the FIFA World Cup final, and more frustration followed at Mexico 1970 as the Germans crashed out in the semi-finals against Italy. But redemption followed in 1974 as Beckenbauer, now employed in the sweeper role he is credited with pioneering, led his country to FIFA World Cup glory on home soil with a 2-1 win over the Netherlands in the final.

Beckenbauer’s love affair with the FIFA World Cup would continue when he returned to coach Germany FR to runners-up spot in 1986 before going one better in 1990 with a 1-0 win over Argentina in the final.