Geographical Association

Football is a global game. It provides a variety of engaging contexts for learning and teaching about remote locations, cultural geography, environmental impacts, globalisation and technology, global inequalities and the benefits of being a host nation for a major event.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup™ is a contemporary and topical theme for work in the geography classroom, but also offers opportunities for vivid cross-curricular work, numeracy and literacy tasks, and cross-phase working. It would also offer a hook for fund-raising events, perhaps to support appropriate educational charities.

Look at the official emblem for the championships - discuss the imagery that was used. Students might be asked to annotate the emblem with its geographical significance, or perhaps design their own logos for the tournament which incorporate certain geographical elements.

A similar design task might be to create a Google Doodle: an adaptation of the Google logo which could be used during the tournament, or on the day of the World Cup Final. For examples of previous doodles, visit the Logo Gallery.

Visit the eLanguages website for examples of logos designed by students for their 2010 Football World Cup Project.

Ask students to design some 'geographical' merchandise which could be sold during the tournament - research ways in which the merchandise could be produced in an eco-friendly or sustainable way.

Some of the teams in the tournament will be wearing shirts which have been made from recycled plastic bottles, so there is a connection between the games and the idea of sustainability.

Research this news story and discuss the extent to which this could be a marketing ploy rather than a real attempt to reduce environmental impact.

32 countries are competing in the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Visit the official website to find them.

Split the class into groups of three/four. Every group must choose four teams, each from a different continent. Make sure every team is chosen at least once. Each group must research and report back on what they have found out about their teams' countries under the following headings: Climate / Landscapes / Peoples / Cultures

Next, pupils should visit the Destination area of the FIFA World Cup™ website. Tell them to choose two of the host cities where their teams are playing and find out what the stadium is like and three 'cool facts' about the city.

Each group reports their findings to the class about the stadium and the city and the activity ends with a vote to decide which is the 'coolest venue'.

Additional questions: Which stadium is hosting the final and which two teams do you think will be playing in the final?

Durban Stadium © Flickr user Kleinz1 provided for use under a Creative Commons Licence

Visit the Teams area of the FIFA World Cup™ website.

• Find out how many teams qualify from each continent.
• Which continent has most qualifying places?
• Which has least?
• Why do you think there are different numbers of qualifying places allocated to different continents?

Next, visit the Africa Preliminaries section of the FIFA website.

Find out how many African countries competed in the preliminary stages and how many places are allocated for Africa in the final competition. Who are the star African players? Which country does each play for and in which country do they play their football in?

Is there a correlation between GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and footballing success in Africa? Look at Wikipedia for current GDP tables.

You must be a GA member to access the rest of our 2010 FIFA World Cup™ resources, which include:

• Web Tools ideas
• Top Trumps game
  
• Google Street View
  
• Cross-curricular links
• Primary ideas
  
• Cultural geography
• Development issues
• Juwala Ball activity
• Travel and Tourism
• Representation and stereotypes