2010 FIFA World Cup qualification the finals, with CONCACAF's fourth-place team facing CONMEBOL's fifth-placed team, and AFC's fifth-placed team facing the winner of the OFC. As the host nation, South Africa qualified automatically. As in 2006, the current cup holders – Italy – did not qualify automatically. For FIFA World Cup qualifying stages the method used for separating teams level on points is the same for all Confederations, as decided by FIFA itself. If teams were even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams would be ranked by: This is a change from 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification, where results between
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL) was not automatically qualified for the tournament. The fifth-placed team then played the winner of the OFC qualifying group, Australia, in a home-and-away play-off. The winner of this play-off qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals. The following four teams from CONMEBOL qualified for the final tournament. 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL) Listed below are the dates and results for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for South America. 10 teams took part, all in a single group. The rules were very simple: the teams would play against each other in a home-and-away basis, with the four