List of qualified teams

 Australia

 Japan

 Korea DPR

 Korea Republic

CAF (6)

 Algeria

 Cameroon

 Côte d"Ivoire

 Ghana

 Nigeria

 South Africa (hosts)

 CONCACAF (3)

 Honduras

 Mexico

 United States

CONMEBOL (5)

 Argentina

 Brazil

 Chile

 Paraguay

 Uruguay

OFC (1)

 New Zealand

 UEFA (13)

 Denmark

 England

 France

 Germany

 Greece

 Italy

 Netherlands

 Portugal

 Serbia

 Slovakia

 Slovenia

 Spain

 Switzerland

This is the first World Cup that does not include any teams that are qualifying for the first time, although two of the qualifiers (Slovakia and Serbia) have previously appeared only as parts of former competing nations. Slovakia was previously part of Czechoslovakia, and Serbia has competed as part of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. In both cases FIFA considers these teams to have retained the earlier nations" records.

Controversy surrounded final qualification matches played between France and the Republic of Ireland, Costa Rica and Uruguay and Egypt and Algeria in November 2009.

 Wikinews has related news: Ireland requests replay of FIFA World Cup play-off with France

 Wikinews has related news: FIFA to make changes after Thierry Henry handball

In the second leg of the play-off between France and the Republic of Ireland, French captain Thierry Henry, unseen by the referee, illegally handled the ball in the lead up to the winning goal, which saw France make the final 32 teams ahead of Ireland. The incident spurred widespread debate on how matches should be refereed at the highest level. FIFA rejected a request from the Football Association of Ireland to replay the match, whilst a widely reported later request by Ireland to be included as an unprecedented 33rd World Cup entrant was later withdrawn. Costa Rica complained over Uruguay"s winning goal in the CONMEBOL–CONCACAF playoff, whilst Egypt and Algeria"s final match was surrounded by reports of crowd trouble.

In response to the incidents during qualification, and to a match fixing controversy, on 2 December 2009 FIFA called for an extraordinary general meeting of their Executive Committee. After the meeting, FIFA announced that they would be setting up an inquiry into technology and extra officials in the game, but they did not announce the widely-expected move of fast-tracking the introduction of goal-line referee"s assistants, already being trialled in the Europa League, and instead restated that the competition in South Africa would be officiated as before, with just one referee, two assistants, and a fourth official. On the subject of fair play, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said:

I appeal to all the players and coaches to observe this fair play. In 2010 we want to prove that football is more than just kicking a ball but has social and cultural value...So we ask the players "please observe fair play" so they will be an example to the rest of the world.

—FIFA President Sepp Blatter