2010 FIFA World Cup world title. Spain became the eighth nation to win the tournament and the first European nation to win a World Cup hosted outside its home continent: all previous World Cups held outside Europe had been won by South American nations. They are also the only national team since 1978 to win a World Cup after losing a game in the group stage. As a result of their win, Spain represented the World in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. Host nation South Africa and both 2006 World Cup finalists Italy and France were all eliminated in the first round of the
National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association). The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, with the exception of 1942 and 1946 when it was not held due to the Second World War. The competition originally featured 16 teams, and later 24, before settling on its current format of 32 teams starting with the 1998 tournament. Teams initially compete in