Inas Mazhar previews the upcoming draw of the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa The draw for the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 will be conducted on Saturday at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg where the pairings of the eight participating teams will be defined in two groups. The FIFA Confederations Cup, to be held from 14 to 28 June 2009, and also known as the "Festival of Champions", features the current champions of the six FIFA Confederations, the reigning world champions and the next World Cup hosts. South Africa is taking part as hosts, Italy as winner of the 2006 World Cup, Iraq, winner of the AFC Asian Cup 2007, Egypt, winner of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2008, the US, winner of the CONCACAF Gold cup 2007, Brazil, winner of Copa America 2007, Spain, winner of EURO 2008 and New Zealand , winner of the 2008 OFC Nations Cup. According to the competitions regulations, the South Africa Organising Committee (SALOC) decides the procedures of the official draw as well as the formation of groups. The eight teams will be divided evenly and placed into two team pots. South Africa will be placed in 'Team pot 1' along with the three most highly ranked teams in the competition -- Spain, Italy and Brazil -- according to the FIFA/Coca-cola world ranking of October 2008. South Africa, as the host nation, will be seeded as A1. They will be the only seeds in the tournament. Egypt, Iraq, New Zealand and the US will comprise 'Team pot 2'. As there are two African teams in the competition, they cannot be drawn into the same group. Egypt will be drawn in Group B. The two European teams will not be drawn in the same group. Therefore, once either Spain or Italy are drawn, the others will be drawn to the opposite side. In principle, teams will be drawn to groups in alternating fashion throughout the official draw, for example, Group A and then Group B repeating. 'Team pot 1' will be drawn first, beginning with South Africa who automatically get placed into position A1. The following principles will then apply to the remaining teams from 'Team pot 1' when a ball with the country's name is pulled -- Brazil, Italy, Spain. The first team selected gets drawn into Group B, and its position determined by drawing a ball from 'Position pot B'. If one of the European teams is selected first, then the other European team will need to be drawn into Group A, and its position will be determined by drawing a ball from 'position pot A'. 'Team pot 2' will be drawn next, and the following principles will apply when a ball with the country's name is pulled -- Egypt, Iraq, New Zealand and USA. With the exception of Egypt, the first team selected gets drawn into Group A, and its position determined by drawing a ball from 'position pot A'. Egypt will need to be drawn into Group B regardless of when they are selected, and their position will be determined by drawing a ball from 'position pot B'. Accordingly, if Egypt are drawn first, the remaining teams will be drawn to groups in the following order: Group A, Group A, Group B. If Egypt are drawn second, no special circumstances apply. If Egypt are drawn third, the remaining team will be drawn and assigned to the final open position in Group A. It will be the second time for Egypt at the Confederations Cup. The first was in 1999 when Egypt participated as winner of the 1998 Africa Cup of Nations. Egypt was ousted by Saudi Arabia 5-1. One of the most important aspects of the 2010 World Cup is to involve and integrate the entire population from every corner of the country. Recently, with this in mind, SALOC kicked off, in partnership with the national departments of education and sport and recreation, the special school campaign "Adopt a Nation", targeting over 12 million scholars from over 30,000 schools throughout the country. "Our aim is to make this global event, located here in South Africa, appeal to every province and city across the country and the continent," FIFA online quoted Irvin Khoza, SALOC chairman. "Schools have been identified as a primary vehicle to get the 2010 World Cup messages not only to children, but indeed families and communities in South Africa and the African continent." The campaign is part of the 'My 2010 School Adventure' project, focusing on three pillars: education, development (sports skills and coaching) and participation in regional and nationwide school football tournaments. In the first phase students and teachers will, as part of their school curriculum, learn more about the teams participating at the Confederations Cup and build relationships with schools in the countries which have qualified. Schools have already been playing in provincial schools tournaments and the winning teams from all provinces will play in the schools Confederations Cup finals in March next year, standing a chance to win tickets to the tournament. To date 7,957 schools from 81 districts across South Africa's nine provinces have registered for the competition From now to January 2009, pupils from across the country will work on creative elements such as essays, poetry, art projects, music and dance performances relating to the Confederations Cup, with the winning submissions also standing a chance to win tickets for the Confederations Cup and the World Cup. Another aspect of the programme is that thousands of teachers will also be given specialised coaching courses in an effort to improve the standard of school football. "The schools campaign provides an opportunity to celebrate issues of national identity, heritage and unity in diversity amongst learners, educators and parents. It is of major importance for our scholars -- the future of our nation -- to learn about the cultures and history of other countries, and what better way than to include them through a progressive programme such as 'Adopt A Nation' which will empower our young academics with knowledge that will stand them in good stead in years to come," said Naledi Pandor, the minister of education, at the launch of the programme at the Nasrec Sports Precinct in Johannesburg. Ambassadors and representatives from the eight Confederations Cup nations joined in the launch festivities, at which South Africa's nine provinces symbolically 'adopted' each one of the eight participants, as well as the African Union in a random draw. The Eastern Cape adopted Spain, Free State adopted Italy, Gauteng popularly adopted South Africa, KwaZulu Natal the African Union, Limpopo New Zealand, Mpumalanga Egypt, the Northern Cape adopted crowd favourites Brazil, North West adopted the United States and the Western Cape Iraq. School students in the various countries will now learn more about the Confederations Cup, and about the countries they "adopted". Zakumi, the Official Mascot of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, who quickly gained popularity after his worldwide debut, was also on hand to entertain hundreds of schoolchildren at the launch event.
