World Cup draw to map out familiar path

A cooling tower stands next to Soccer City, also known as the FNB Stadium, in Johannesburg November 26, 2009.

LONDON (Reuters) - Whatever surprises the draw for South Africa 2010 provides in Cape Town on December 4, the path to glory at the first African World Cup will be a familiar one.

FIFA's decision to take its prized asset outside Europe and the Americas for only the second time will make for a momentous event with organizers viewing the draw at the International Convention Center as the tournament's start.

While there will be a new and distinctly African flavor to the June 11-July 11 competition, with vuvuzela trumpets blaring from every venue, there is no such novelty in the 32-team line-up.

In contrast to the last World Cup in Germany in 2006, when there were four debutants from Africa alone, this time every one of the teams has prior experience, albeit in former guises in the case of one or two.

Among the nations being drawn in a ceremony that will be broadcast to hundreds of millions of TV viewers from the city famous for its Table Mountain will be all seven previous champions.

"Not only for South Africa but for the whole world this is the beginning of the World Cup," local organizing committee chief executive Danny Jordaan told Reuters in a recent interview.

"I think it's going to be a huge occasion. We've worked hard to produce a spectacular draw."

For the first time there are six African teams involved, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria and the hosts, and they have all been here before.

The "home" stage means there is a good chance an African team can win the greatest prize in soccer for the first time.

Joining the likes of 2006 winners Italy and five-times champions Brazil are a bunch of teams emerging from a spell in the soccer wilderness.

They include North Korea, who reached the quarter-finals on their only previous appearance in England in 1966, Honduras and New Zealand, who have only qualified once before in Spain in 1982.

Other teams have been here before under different names: Slovakia have experience as the former Czechoslovakia and Serbia appeared in Germany as Serbia & Montenegro and going back further as Yugoslavia.

GEOGRAPHY HOMEWORK

The tournament, which will take place at 10 venues in nine cities, will feature eight groups of four teams in the first stage followed by a series of knockout rounds.

Soccer's ruling body FIFA has still not announced the seedings for the draw which will begin at 1700 GMT in front of 2,000 guests in the hall.

The one certainty is South Africa will be assigned the top position in Group A and will play the tournament's first match at Soccer City in Johannesburg on June 11.

Brazil, Italy and European champions Spain are all but certain to join South Africa among the batch of top seeds, with the likes of Netherlands, Germany, France and Argentina among the heavyweights hoping to join them.

Once the match schedule has been finalized, team officials will be pouring over meteorological data as well as their opponents' playing statistics.

The venues are split between the high veldt, where cold temperatures and high altitude will be a factor, to warm coastal locations and the small cities of Nelspruit and Polokwane.

It is the first winter World Cup since Argentina in 1978 when the home side won.

It will almost certainly be beyond South Africa, affectionately known as Bafana Bafana, to match that achievement with a place in the second round the realistic target for a team ranked 86th in the world.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)