Johannesburg - The FIFA 2010 Organising Committee (OC) has announced that Combined Artists Productions will be responsible for producing the Final Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The Final Draw event, to take place on 4 December in Cape Town, will decide the group stages of the tournament and will map the 32 qualifying teams' potential road to the final.
Making the announcement on Tuesday evening, the OC said Combined Artists Productions has helped produce two world-class draw shows to date, including the Preliminary Draw in Durban in 2007 and the FIFA Confederations Cup Draw in November last year in Johannesburg.
"Combined Artists Productions has already proven its ability to put on productions that are world-class and that capture the unique spirit of South Africa. We are excited to be working alongside them to host this very important event," said OC Chairman, Dr Irvin Khoza.
He explained that the Final Draw was an important step in the hosting of the World Cup.
"The final draw in Germany attracted a cumulative television audience of 134.5 million individuals and was shown live in 137 countries, so clearly this is a huge opportunity for us to showcase our country to a watching world," said Khoza.
In South Africa, more than 2000 guests will watch the draw live and close to 1000 media professionals are expected to cover the draw.
Khoza said he was confident they would out in a show to remember.
Meanwhile, seven countries have qualified for the World Cup so far, including Brazil, Ghana, Korea Republic, Korea DPR, Japan, Australia and the Netherlands. South Africa qualifies automatically as the host nation.
England, Denmark, Slovakia, Spain, Serbia, Chile and Paraguay will play qualifying matches later on Wednesday.
"By 18 November we will know which 32 teams will compete for World Cup glory next year and on 4 December we will decide where the teams will play during the group stages of the tournament," said OC CEO, Dr Danny Jordaan.
