FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009

The FIFA Confederations Cup is held every four years where winners of the six regional championships from CAF, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, UEFA, AFC, and OFC are eligible to play in the prestigious tournament. The host country and the FIFA World Cup winner are included in order to bring the number of participants to eight.

If the World Cup winner happens to also be the winner of its particular region, the runner-up of World Cup will play in the Confederations Cup. If both the winner and the runner-up of FIFA World Cup are winners of their respective regions as well, the runner-ups of both regions will qualify for the Confederations Cup, making the total competing teams to be at a constant number of eight.

There were three occasions where qualified nations rejected to play in the Confederations Cup. UEFA EURO 1996 winner Germany did not play in the 1997 Confederations Cup, allowing EURO runner-up Czech Republic to play. World Cup 1998 winner France chose not to play in the 1999 Confederations Cup and was replaced by runner-up Brazil.

As Brazil won both the Copa America and World Cup 2002, Germany was supposed to qualify for the Confederations Cup as the runner-up of World Cup 2002. However, Germany declined to take part and was replaced by Turkey, who finished third in FIFA World Cup 2002.

The FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 is less than two months away and is set to be held from 14-28 June 2009. The participating nations are South Africa, Italy, Spain, Brazil, USA, Egypt, Iraq, and New Zealand.

South Africa qualify automatically as the host nation along with another African country, Egypt, who won the African Nations Cup 2008 in Ghana. World Cup 2006 champion Italy qualify automatically as well along with EURO 2008 winner Spain.

Brazil's 3-0 win over Argentina won them the Copa America 2007 in Venezuela and earned them a spot in FIFA Confederations Cup 2009. At the CONCACAF region, USA defeated Mexico 2-1 in the 2007 Gold Cup to qualify for the Confederations Cup.

AFC Asian Cup 2007 winner Iraq will play in the Confederations Cup for the first time in history. New Zealand qualify to the Confederations Cup as well having won the OFC Nations Cup 2007/08.

South Africa, Iraq, New Zealand, and Spain are drawn together in Group A while USA, Italy, Brazil, and Egypt are tied in Group B.

The Confederations Cup is sometimes called a mini World Cup or a pre-World Cup. New rules are often tested in Confederations Cup like the new offside rules being tested in the previous Confederations Cup in Germany. This actually allows the coming World Cup games to run smoothly with less controversy.

World Cup is the biggest stage in world football and therefore the Confederations Cup is relatively important as well. The coming Confederations Cup gives regional champions an early taste of one another ahead of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

So which nation do you think will win the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 in South Africa?