The draw on 25 November in Durban , which determines the qualifying groups for soccer's showpiece competition, will be a sizeable event in its own right, reports Southafrica.info.

The entire Durban International Convention Centre has been booked out to accommodate the large number of FIFA officials, representatives of countries taking part in the draw, and more than 300 journalists from around the world who will be covering the event.

Last week, the Kwazulu-Natal provincial government approved an R8 million budget to be spent on preparations for the event, which will coincide with the opening in Johannesburg of Soccerex 2007, the first South African edition of the world's biggest business-to-business football exhibition.

A record 204 out of FIFA’s 208 member countries have entered the qualifying tournament. Only the Philippines, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam and Laos will miss out.

The draw in Durban will feature teams competing in the European, Asian, North American, Central American and Caribbean zones. Not included will be Oceania, South America and Africa, whose qualifying matches will already have started.

At the same time that the preliminary draw for the world cup takes place in Durban, the Sandton Convention Centre will play host to Soccerex, the largest business to business exhibition which explores the business side of football.

Over 5 000 delegates are expected to attend the exhibition in Johannesurg, which runs from 26 to 28 November. It is estimated that business deals to the value of about R7 billion will be concluded.

World Cup fixtures will be played in ten stadia, distributed across nine host cities in South Africa. Five of these arenas are being renovated to comply with FIFA's requirements, while the other half are being built from scratch.

Construction has started on all the five arenas to be newly built. Renovations to four of the stadiums set to host 2010 fixtures would be complete by December 2008. These stadiums are Vodacom Park in Mangaung, Royal Bafokeng in Rustenburg, Loftus stadium in Pretoria and Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

Those who will be completed by October 2009 are Mbombela in Nelspruit, Peter Mokaba (Polokwane), Nelson Mandela Bay, Green Point (Cape Town) Moses Mabhida (Durban) and the Soccer City in Johannesburg.

Crucial milestones in the 2010 preparations' timeline include meeting the deadline for the completion of stadiums and transport infrastructure (BuaNews).

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