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{{blockquote|I appeal to all the players and coaches to observe this fair play. In 2010 we want to prove that football is more than just kicking a ball but has social and cultural value ... So we ask the players 'please observe fair play' so they will be an example to the rest of the world.<ref name=BBCSport02Dec09FIFAToInvestigateHenry>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/8391388.stm |title=Fifa to investigate Thierry Henry handball |work=BBC Sport |date=2 December 2009 |access-date=3 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091203030209/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/8391388.stm |archive-date=3 December 2009 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref>}}
[[Slovakia]] was making its first appearance as an independent nation but had previously been represented as part of the Czechoslovakia team that had last played in the 1990 tournament; North Korea qualified for the first time since 1966; Honduras and New Zealand were both making their first appearances since 1982; Algeria were at the finals for the first time since the 1986 competition; and Greece qualified for the first time since 1994. Serbia also made its first appearance as an independent nation, having previously been present as Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1930, as SFR Yugoslavia from 1950 to 1990, as FR Yugoslavia in 1998 and as Serbia and Montenegro in 2006.
Teams that failed to qualify for this tournament included [[Saudi Arabia national football team|Saudi Arabia]], which had qualified for the previous four tournaments; [[Tunisia national football team|Tunisia]] and [[Croatia national football team|Croatia]], both of whom had qualified for the previous three finals; [[Costa Rica national football team|Costa Rica]], [[Ecuador national football team|Ecuador]], [[Poland national football team|Poland]] and [[Sweden national football team|Sweden]], who had qualified for the previous two editions; 2006 quarter-finalists [[Ukraine national football team|Ukraine]] and [[UEFA Euro 2008|Euro 2008]] semi-finalists [[Russia national football team|Russia]] and [[Turkey national football team|Turkey]]. The highest ranked team not to qualify was Croatia (ranked 10th), while the lowest ranked team that did qualify was North Korea (ranked 105th).
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