Benin overcame the formidable challenge of Angola on Sunday to join Nigeria and Cameroon in the last phase of African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

A 3-2 win in Cotonou for the small West African country came 24 hours after Cameroon had secured their progress by beating the Cape Verde Islands 2-1 in Praia.

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UEFA
Sweden 0-0 Albania; Portugal 4-0 Malta; Hungary 0-0 Denmark; Latvia 2-1 Moldova; Israel 2-2 Switzerland; Greece 3-0 Luxembourg; Poland 1-1 Slovenia; Slovakia 2-1 No. Ireland; Wales 1-0 Azerbaijan; Germany 6-0 Liechtenstein; Turkey 2-0 Armenia; Spain 1-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina; Belgium 3-2 Estonia; Ukraine 1-0 Belarus; Croatia 3-0 Kazakhstan; England 2-0 Andorra; Lithuania 3-0 Romania; Austria 3-1 France; Serbia 2-0 Faroe Islands; Ireland 2-1 Georgia; Italy 2-1 Cyprus; Montenegro 2-2 Bulgaria; Macedonia 1-0 Scotland; Norway 2-2 Iceland. Click to continue reading...

Here, the latest scores from the latest round of 2010 World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers...

The joint qualifying campaign will decide which five teams will join hosts South Africa at the World Cup in 2010.

The qualification process will also decide the 15 teams who will join host Angola to take part at the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

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It's a good thing the emir of Abu Dhabi was born to inherit the wealth attached to one of the earth's richest pool of hydrocarbons. Because he is clearly intent on pissing away hundreds of millions of dollars at Man City.

Just so there's no mistaking my meaning: this is a disaster. There is literally no chance whatsoever that this project is going to work out. Click to continue reading...

While the eyes of your average European soccer fan were squarely focused on Euro 2008 recently, other things were, remarkably, going on elsewhere in the world.

We speak, of course, about the qualifying competition for World Cup 2010 and this May and June has proven to be a busy period for every continent except Europe, so let's catch up with what's been going on, starting with. Click to continue reading...

FIFA have just released their new world ranking table and there are some surprises.

Coming in at first place is newly crowned Euro 2008 champions Spain, who knocked former #1 Argentina off the top with their exceptional performance in Austria/Switzerland.

Argentina had held the top spot since October 2007. Click to continue reading...

CFR Cluj won the 2007-2008 Liga I championship. The club is the first squad outside of Bucharest to win Romania's top football league in the last 17 years. With the championship, the team is now guaranteed a spot in the group stage of the lucrative UEFA Champions League. This added revenue has allowed to club to bring in several notable transfers to be made official on July 1st. Click to continue reading...

The venues are being scrubbed clean, the tickets are printed and the cities are bubbling with anticipation.

The African Cup of Nations is but a mere 2 weeks and 2 days away from taking over the minds and hearts of football fans around the globe.

Cup finalists begin their pre-tournament preparations in earnest this weekend, led by defending champions Egypt who host Namibia in a friendly. Click to continue reading...

We here at 2010 haven't looked at the FIFA world rankings in some time now. They're released every month, so let's take a peek and see where our friends in Africa rank with the world powers.

The Top Five of the August 2007 ranking are a Who's Who of world footballing giants, with Brazil ranked #1, followed by Argentina, 2006 winners Italy, 2006 finalists France and 2006 hosts Germany. Click to continue reading...