2010 World Cup Draw

Australia will play Germany, Ghana and Serbia in the group stages of next year's World Cup in South Africa. Re-live the action of the draw and look at the full fixture.

Australia will play Germany, Ghana and Serbia in the group stages of next year's World Cup in South Africa. Follow all the action with our text commentary. Check out the draw here.

18:32: So Australia's three games in the group stages are: June 13: v Germany, Durban June 19: v Ghana, Rustenburg June 23: v Serbia, Nelspruit

18:30: The final Groups:

A1: South Africa A2: Mexico A3: Uruguay A4: France

B1: Argentina B2: Nigeria B3: Korea Republic B4: Greece

C1: England C2: USA C3: Algeria C4: Slovenia

D1: Germany D2: Australia D3: Serbia D4: Ghana

E1: Netherlands E2: Denmark E3: Japan E4: Cameroon

F1: Italy F2: Paraguay F3: New Zealand F4: Slovakia

G1: Brazil G2: DPR Korea G3: Cote D'Ivoire G4: Portugal

H1: Spain H2: Switzerland H3: Honduras H4: Chile

18:25: Pot 4 H4: Chile

A4: France

B4: Greece

C4: Slovenia

D3: Serbia

E2: Denmark

F4: Slovakia

G4: Portugal

H2: Switzerland

18:22: Serbia completes Australia's group. So it's Germany, Ghana, Australia and Serbia

18:21: Pot 2: A2: Mexico

B3: Korea Republic

C2: USA

D2: Australia

E3: Japan

F3: New Zealand

G2: DPR Korea

H3: Honduras

Pot 3: A3: Uruguay

B2: Nigeria

C3: Algeria

D4: Ghana

E4: Cameroon

F2: Paraguay

G3: Cote D'Ivoire

H4: Chile

1820: Ghana is in Australia's group.

1815: New Zealand is drawn in Italy's group

1812: Australia is in Germany's group, and will play them first in Durban

18:10: A1: South Africa B1: Argentina C1: England D1: Germany E1: Netherlands F1: Italy G1: Brazil H1: Spain

17:58: Just explaining the draw process at the moment. Draw is minutes away. Getting excited?

17:54: Isao Hayatou, president of the CAF (African confederation) is now talking about how proud he feels that an African country is finally going to host a World Cup.

17:52: Charlize Theron has just introduced Fifa general secretary Jerome Valckx.

17:47: Nelson Mandela: "Sport has the power to inspire and unite people. In Africa, soccer enjoys great popularity and has a particular place in the hearts of people. This is why it is so important that the Fifa World Cup will for the first time ever be hosted on the African Continent in 2010. We feel privileged and humbled that South Africa has been given the singular honour of being the host country."

17:40: "Football is emotion, football is passion, football is Africa, South Africa." - the words of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, addressing the multitudes in Cape Town.

17:38: There are no less than two Nobel Prize winners present at the draw - Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former South African president FW de Klerk. And of course Nelson Mandela has delivered his message via video links.

17:30: Still going through the preliminaries in Cape Town, lots of promotional videos and the like. Charlize Theron is on the stage.

17:05: Not long to go now. They always say 'there are no easy games at this level', but it's fair to say that most sides outside pot 2 would be happy to face New Zealand, while every single unseeded team would, despite knowing they'd be essentially playing an away match, prefer South Africa from the seeded pot.

16:49: By the way, here are some stats - 200 countries will be watching the draw being broadcast with up to 200m viewers watching. Better not trip over, Charlize. Though it would be good if she repeated the joke she apparently made in the draw's rehearsal - saying 'Ireland' when France was drawn.

16:41: Who are the unseeded teams to avoid? Most would agree that from pot 2 Australia or the United States are going to be a lot harder than Honduras or DPR Korea, while in pot 3 Cote d'Ivoire are probably the pick of the five strong African nations present. And from pot 4 - look no further than Portugal and 1998 champions France.

16:21: Any clash of course between England or South Africa, and Australia or New Zealand would open up memories of cricket and rugby clashes between those nations.

16:20: Italy and Australia would be a good draw too.

15:45: There's also England and Portugal perhaps - Portugal knocked England out of both Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 on penalties

15:44: And also Serbia or Greece v Australia - so many football-loving Aussies originate from these nations.

15:43: Some potential needle draws in prospect - Algeria could get Germany (the north Africans will want revenge for the infamous 'Anschluss' game between Austria and West Germany in 1982) is one big one.

15:27: The guest 'draw hosts' will include Charlize Theron, Michel Platini, Desmond Tutu, Makhaya Ntini and many more.