2010 FIFA World Cup qualification scored over 852 matches, scoring on average 2.74 per match. At the close of entries on 15 March 2007, 204 football associations had entered the preliminary competition: 203 out of the 207 FIFA members at that time (including the host nation, South Africa, as the qualification procedure in Africa also acted as the qualification for the 2010 African Cup of Nations) and the Montenegro team, which later became FIFA's 208th member. The final number of teams entered breaks the previous record of 199 entrants set during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Four FIFA members (all from the AFC) failed to
2005 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA playoffs) in the 2004 Euro Beach Soccer League, being France, Portugal and the Ukraine. The teams who finished in fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh were called back to compete for the final place at the world cup, however seventh place Belgium declined the invitation to participate, so eighth place Austria competed instead. The nations played in a simple knockout format, starting with the semi-finals. 2005 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA playoffs) The 2005 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification playoffs for (UEFA) was a special, one-off beach soccer tournament to determine the fourth European nation that would be competing