The 2010 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 2010 World Cup, the 19th edition of FIFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 11 July 2010, and was contested by the Netherlands and Spain. The event comprised hosts South Africa and 31 other teams who emerged from the qualification phase, organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 32 teams competed in a group stage, from which 16 teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, the Netherlands finished first in Group E, with three wins, after which they defeated Slovakia in the round of 16, Brazil in the quarter-final and Uruguay in the semi-final. Spain finished top of Group H with two wins and one loss, before defeating Portugal in the round of 16, Paraguay in the quarter-final and Germany in the semi-final. The final took place in front of 84,490 supporters, with more than 909 million watching on television, and was refereed by Howard Webb from England.
Sergio Ramos had a chance to score for Spain early in the first half when his shot was saved by Netherlands goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, while Arjen Robben had a chance for the Netherlands when he hit a low shot from the edge of the penalty area shortly before half-time, which was saved by Iker Casillas. There were numerous bookings throughout the first half, which BBC Sport's Paul Fletcher wrote had "disturbed the rhythm of the match". Robben missed an opportunity in the 62nd minute when he was one-on-one with Casillas, with the goalkeeper able to intercept his attempted shot with the toe of his boot to prevent the goal. David Villa then had a chance for Spain 4 yards (4 m) from the Netherlands goal, but Stekelenburg saved his shot. Ramos missed a header in front of goal on 77 minutes, sending the ball over the crossbar. With the match goalless after 90 minutes, it went to extra time. John Heitinga received a second booking during extra time, which resulted in him being sent off, and four minutes before the end, Andrés Iniesta gave Spain the lead, and the title, with a powerful right footer onto a short pass from Fabregas, into the left corner of the goal to secure a 1–0 win.
Spain's win was their first World Cup title, as well as the first World Cup win by a European team outside Europe. Iniesta was named the man of the match, while Casillas was awarded the Golden Glove as FIFA's outstanding goalkeeper of the tournament. Spain went on to win UEFA Euro 2012 for their third successive trophy, but failed to defend the World Cup at the 2014 tournament in Brazil, becoming the second successive World Cup holders to be eliminated in the group phase after defeats against the Netherlands and Chile.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th edition of the FIFA World Cup, FIFA's football competition for national teams, held between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa.[2][3] South Africa qualified for the finals automatically as tournament hosts, while 205 teams competed for the remaining 31 spots through qualifying rounds organised by the six FIFA confederations and held between August 2007 and November 2009.[4][5] In the finals, the teams were divided into eight groups of four with each team playing each other once. The two top teams from each group advanced to a knock-out phase.[3] The defending champions from the 2006 World Cup were Italy.[2]
The match ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup final, revealed on 20 April 2010, was the Jo'bulani, a gold version of the Adidas Jabulani ball used for every other match in the tournament.[6] The name of the ball is a reference to "Jo'burg", a common nickname for Johannesburg, the match venue.[6] The gold colouring of the ball mirrors the colour of the FIFA World Cup Trophy and also echoes another of Johannesburg's nicknames: "the City of Gold".[6] The Jo'bulani became the second ball to be specifically produced for the FIFA World Cup final, after the Teamgeist Berlin was used for the 2006 final.[6]
The 2010 final was the first time since 1978 that neither of the finalists had previously won the World Cup. The Netherlands had been runners-up twice before, losing 2–1 to West Germany in 1974, and 3–1 (after extra time) to Argentina in 1978.[2] Reaching the 2010 final was Spain's best performance in the World Cup, their having previously finished fourth in 1950 when the tournament had a round-robin final stage, and having reached the quarter-final stage in 1934, 1986, 1994 and 2002, when single-elimination knock-out stages featured.[7][8] Spain were the reigning European champions, having won UEFA Euro 2008, a tournament in which the Netherlands reached the quarter-final before being eliminated by Russia.[9] This was the first meeting between the two teams in the main tournament stages of either a World Cup or a European Championship. In all-time head-to-head results, the teams had met nine times previously since 1920, with the Netherlands winning four games to Spain's three and one draw, all in either friendlies or European Championship qualifying games.[10] At the start of the tournament, Spain were ranked second in the FIFA World Rankings, behind Brazil, while the Netherlands were ranked fourth.[11]
The Netherlands entered the World Cup having won all eight matches in their qualifying campaign.[5] They were then drawn in Group E for the World Cup, in which they were joined by Cameroon, Denmark and Japan.[12] Their first match was against Denmark at Soccer City, on 14 June 2010.[13] The Netherlands took the lead shortly after half-time when Denmark's Simon Poulsen cleared a cross from Robin van Persie, but it struck the back of Daniel Agger and deflected in for an own goal.[14] Dirk Kuyt added a second five minutes before the end to complete a 2–0 win, scoring on the rebound after Thomas Sørensen, the Danish goalkeeper, had saved Eljero Elia's shot on to the goalpost.[13][14] The Netherlands faced Japan in their second game, on 19 June at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.[15] As in the first game, they scored the opening goal shortly after half-time when Wesley Sneijder received the ball on the edge of the penalty area, following an attempted clearance by Japan, and struck the ball into the goal.[16] The win, alongside Denmark's victory over Cameroon, meant that the Netherlands had qualified for the next round before playing their final group game.[17] That game was against Cameroon, on 24 June at Cape Town Stadium. Van Persie gave them the lead on 36 minutes,[18] before Samuel Eto'o equalised with a penalty after Rafael van der Vaart was penalised for a handball in the penalty area. Klaas Jan Huntelaar scored a late goal, however, to seal a 2–1 win and first place in the group.[19]
The Netherlands' round-of-16 game was against Slovakia, who had beaten Italy in their final group game, at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on 28 June. Arjen Robben started his first game of the tournament after recovering from an injury, and he gave the Netherlands the lead in the 18th minute when he received a long pass upfield by Sneijder and scored with a low shot past goalkeeper Ján Mucha.[20] Sneijder then added a second in the 84th minute before Slovakia scored a penalty in the final minute of injury time, giving a final score of 2–1 to the Netherlands.[21] In the quarter-final, the Netherlands faced five-times world champions Brazil, on 2 July at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.[22] Brazil took the lead in the 10th minute, when Robinho latched on to a deep pass from Felipe Melo and scored.[23][24] Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg had to make several saves to prevent Brazil extending their lead. The Netherlands equalised eight minutes after half-time, the goal being initially recorded as an own goal by Melo but later credited to Sneijder.[25][26] The Netherlands then took the lead from a Robben corner kick in the 68th minute, Sneijder heading the ball in after a flick-on from Kuyt. Melo was sent off for a stamp on Robben, and the Netherlands went on to complete a 2–1 win.[23] Their semi-final was against Uruguay at Cape Town Stadium on 6 July.[27] Giovanni van Bronckhorst gave the Netherlands the lead on 18 minutes with a shot which deflected in off the goalpost, before Diego Forlán equalised from long-range for Uruguay shortly before half-time.[28] The Netherlands retook the lead on 70 minutes when Sneijder scored with a shot which deflected off Maxi Pereira, a Uruguayan defender.[29] Uruguay's players protested that van Persie had been interfering with play in an offside position, but the goal stood.[30] Robben extended their lead with a header shortly afterwards, before Pereira scored during injury time to give a final score of 3–2 to the Netherlands.[29]
Like the Netherlands, Spain also won all of the matches in their qualifying campaign.[5] They were then drawn in Group H, alongside Chile, Honduras and Switzerland.[31] Spain began their finals campaign on 16 June 2010 in the Moses Mabhida Stadium against Switzerland. In what The Daily Telegraph reporter Jeremy Wilson described as "among the bigger shocks in the competition's entire history", Switzerland won the game 1–0 with Gelson Fernandes scoring the winner in the second half after teammate Eren Derdiyok had collided with Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas when through on goal.[32] Their second game was at Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium, against Honduras. David Villa opened the scoring on 17 minutes when he beat two defenders and hit a shot into the top corner of the goal. He doubled the lead shortly after half-time with a shot from the edge of the penalty area following a one-two with Xavi. Villa missed the chance for a hat-trick when his 60th-minute penalty went wide of the goalpost, and the game finished 2–0 to Spain.[33] Spain entered their final game against Chile, at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria on 25 June, needing a win to guarantee their progression to the knockout stage.[34][35] Villa gave Spain the lead on 24 minutes, with what The Guardian's Rob Smyth described as "the goal of the World Cup so far". Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo came out of the penalty area and made a tackle on Fernando Torres, but the loose ball then reached Villa on the left of the pitch and he curled a shot into the net from a distance of around 40 yards (37 m). They doubled their lead on 37 minutes when Andrés Iniesta scored following a pass from Villa.[35] Chile's Marco Estrada was sent off for a second yellow card when the referee judged that he had fouled Torres in the build-up to the goal. Rodrigo Millar pulled a goal back for Chile after half-time, but Spain held on for a 2–1 and a place in the next round as group winners.[3][36]
Spain's round-of-16 game was against Portugal at the Cape Town Stadium, on 29 June.[37] Both teams had chances to score in the first half, but it was Spain who took the lead on 63 minutes when Xavi found Villa with a back-heeled pass who scored into the top of the goal after his initial shot was saved by Portuguese goalkeeper Eduardo Carvalho.[38] Portugal's Ricardo Costa was sent off with two minutes remaining, for elbowing Joan Capdevila, and Spain went on to complete a 1–0 victory.[39] In the quarter-final, Spain faced Paraguay at Ellis Park Stadium on 3 July.[40] Paraguay put the ball into the goal shortly half-time but it was disallowed as Óscar Cardozo was ruled offside.[41] Paraguay were awarded a penalty on 57 minutes, taken by Cardozo after Gerard Piqué had fouled him, but it was saved by Casillas. Two minutes later, Spain were awarded a penalty of their own when Antolín Alcaraz fouled Villa. Xabi Alonso put the ball past the goalkeeper into the net, but the referee ordered it to be retaken due to Spanish players being inside the penalty area when the penalty was taken. Alonso's second attempt, the third penalty of the match, was saved by goalkeeper Justo Villar, and the score remained 0–0. The deadlock was finally broken by Villa, who scored a goal on 82 minutes, which bounced off both posts before going in, to give Spain a 1–0 win.