Tournament Ladder

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Stages of Matches, Tournament Ladder

Starting with June 6th the group matches will be going on until June 26th when the 2nd stage will start.

During the group matches 32 teams will compete with each other, then half of them (16) teams will be eliminated and the exact same number will continue playing.

The 2nd stage of the World Cup will start on June 26th and instead of group matches, a ladder-like scheme will lead to the end of the games, culminating with a single winner: the finalist of the World Cup event.

The illustration below (courtesy of Wikipedia.org) presents the stages comprehensively.

The starting 16 teams will only be known after the completion of the 1st (group) stage.

   IMPORTANT: The scheme on the image above is courtesy of Wikipedia.com (exact source: Wikipedia: 2010 FIFA World Cup)