A is for Appearances; Brazil have played more matches at the Confederations Cup than anyone else (23), and have also won more games than anyone else (13).
B is for Blue; Italy play in 'azure savoia', savoy blue, as this was the official colour of the former royal family, the Savoia.
C is for Copa D'Oro; the forbearer of the Confederations Cup was held in Montevideo, Uruguay from December 30, 1980 to January 10, 1981. The 'Mundialito', a 50-year commemoration of the World Cup, featured Uruguay, Italy, West Germany, Brazil and Argentina, five of the six previous World Cup winners. England declined their invitation and were instead replaced by the Netherlands, finalists in 1974 and 1978.
D is for Dunga; Brazil's manager is also a World Cup winning captain, leading the side to victory in the 1994 tournament. After initially being criticised by the country's media, the former Fiorentina midfielder is now enjoying the adulation in his homeland after a string of fine performances. Curiously, the nickname 'Dunga' means dopey in Portuguese.
E is for Exception; Spain are the only country who have topped the FIFA world rankings but have never won the World Cup.
F is for First; Hawar Mulla Mohammed scored the first goal by an Iraqi in the Champions League when he netted for Anorthosis Famagusta against Panathinaikos in October 2008.
G is for Gold Cup; the reason for United States' participation at this edition of the Confederations Cup. Team US defeated Mexico in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup final, 2-1. Landon Donovan and Benny Feilhaber cancelled out Andres Guardado's first half strike in front of 60,000 fans in Chicago.
H is for Hat-Tricks; Vladimir Smicer, the Czech Republic winger, netted the first hat-trick in the Confederations Cup, striking three against the UAE on December 17, 1997. Ronaldo became the first player to score a treble in the final of the same year, although he only bettered team-mate Romario by 16 minutes; the players shared the goals as Brazil hammered Australia 6-0 in the inaugural final.
I is for Iraq; despite the country being ravaged by war, the Iraq national team won the 2007 AFC Cup, as well as reaching fourth place in the preceding 2004 Olympic Games. As a result of their Asian success, the team were named World Soccer Magazine's Team of the Year for 2007 and were also nominated for the prestigious Prince of Asturias award.
J is for Johannesburg; South Africa's largest city and a venue for the Confederations Cup tournament. Johannesburg shares links with two cities from fellow competing nations. Jo'burg is a sister city of New York City, USA and Sao Paolo, Brazil.
K is for Kopanya; The Adidas Kopanya ball will be used at the Confederations Cup tournament. Since 1970 Adidas has manufactured the match balls for all major UEFA and FIFA tournaments, but for the first time ever they decided to design a new ball for the Confederations Cup in South Africa. Kopanya means 'join together' in Sotho, one of South Africa's 11 official languages, and the ball design is based on the art of the Ndebele people, a very creative culture in the country. The colours are based on the South African flag.
L is for Lippi; the manager of Italy, Marcello Lippi, has gone down in the history books as the man who led the Azzurri to their fourth World Cup. Following the 2006 tournament, Lippi resigned his post and bequeathed his position to Roberto Donadoni. After a horrendous Euro 2008, Lippi was reinstated for the 2010 qualification campaign.
M is for Miracle Worker; the nickname given to Bora Milutinovic, the Iraq manager, who is now coaching his eighth international team. Bora has had two spells at Mexico, and terms at USA, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Honduras, China and Jamaica. In addition, with Mexico (1986), Costa Rica (1990), USA (1994), Nigeria (1998) and China (2002), he has coached five different teams at five consecutive World Cups.
N is for Nicknames; The Confederations Cup teams feature a wide array of eclectic nicknames. The hosts, South Africa, are known as 'Bafana Bafana', African brethren Egypt go by the moniker 'The Pharoahs', Spain are 'La Furia Roja', New Zealand are called 'The All Whites' in a tribute to their rugby playing cousins, 'The All Blacks'.
O is for Oriundo; The Italians have a word for a foreigner of native origin: Oriundo. Eddie Firmani, born in South Africa in 1933, but who had an Italian grandfather, is the most successful South African to play in Italy, and is regarded by some as the greatest English league export ever to play in Serie A. He played for Charlton from 1950-55, and then spent the next eight years in Italy with Inter, Samp and Genoa. Firmani is the only player to have ever scored 100 goals in both Italy and England. He played for Italy as an 'Oriundo' and scored on his debut against Switzerland. His nickname among Inter fans was 'Cold Turkey' due to his perceived lack of effort on the pitch.
P is for Pressure; coming into the tournament, New Zealand are predicted to be the whipping boys. To avoid the wooden spoon and national embarrassment, the All Whites will look to their star-man, Shane Smeltz, their best chance of a goal at the Confederations Cup. So many of the nation's hopes have been pinned on his shoulders and the Gold Coast United stand-out is under enormous pressure to perform. An undoubted talent and the A-League's player of the year last season, South Africa could be the stage where he shows himself to the watching world - and potential European suitors.
Q is for Qatar; Iraq were controversially knocked out of the World Cup qualifiers at the last stage by a Qatar side who fielded a player Iraq felt was ineligible. Marcio Emerson Passos played for Brazil at youth level before switching allegiance to the Gulf side. After an enquiry, FIFA ruled in favour of Qatar.
R is for Ronaldinho; not present at this year's edition of the competition, 'Dinho' is nonetheless the tournament's all-time top scorer, alongside Cuauhtemoc Blanco of Mexico, with nine strikes.
S is for Shibobo; South African slang used to describe the skill of putting the ball through an opponents legs, or nutmeg. This is especially popular in South Africa, where skilful 'cheeky' players are appreciated by the fans.
T is for The Game of their Lives; a book by Geoffrey Douglas which was the subject of a 2005 documentary. It chronicled the greatest victory in the history of the United States national team. The 1950 World Cup in Brazil witnessed one of international football's greatest upsets when the US defeated England 1-0, in the group stages. Joe Gaetjens, a Haitian immigrant, netted the memorable goal.
U is for Undefeated; Spain are undefeated in 32 matches, having not lost a game since Romania beat them on November 15, 2006. Brazil hold the record at 35. Spain can equal the record by remaining unbeaten in the Confederations Cup group stage.
V is for Vuvuzela; this is a distinctive trumpet blown by South African football supporters at domestic matches and Bafana games in support of their teams. The atmosphere of a football match in South Africa is not complete without this noisy instrument, and fans going to South Africa for the World Cup will discover them at the games.
W is for Winless; Playing in only their third Confederations Cup, New Zealand have lost every other game they have played at the tournament and, drawn in a group alongside Spain, will be up against it as they look to arrest that pattern. Qualified for their one and only World Cup in 1982, where they lost every game.
X is for Xavi; The Spain midfielder has a knack of rising to the occasion. The Barcelona youth-product was named Player of the Tournament in last summer's European Championships and was also Man of the Match in the Champions League final against Manchester United.
Y is for Yellow; following Brazil's defeat to Uruguay in the Maracana at the 1950 World Cup, the team's uniforms were criticised for lacking patriotism. The simple white kits were jettisoned and a competition for a new design was initiated. The winning entrant was Aldyr Garcia Schlee, who put forward the yellow, blue and white design which is still in use today.
Z is for Zaki; Egypt's Amr Zaki was sprung from the bench in the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final against Senegal. He replaced Mido, who engaged coach Hassan Shehata in a touchline row as a result of being hooked. True to form, the prolific Zaki netted the winner within seconds of being introduced to send Egypt through to the final, where they overcame Ivory Coast to win their fifth African title.
B is for Blue; Italy play in 'azure savoia', savoy blue, as this was the official colour of the former royal family, the Savoia.
C is for Copa D'Oro; the forbearer of the Confederations Cup was held in Montevideo, Uruguay from December 30, 1980 to January 10, 1981. The 'Mundialito', a 50-year commemoration of the World Cup, featured Uruguay, Italy, West Germany, Brazil and Argentina, five of the six previous World Cup winners. England declined their invitation and were instead replaced by the Netherlands, finalists in 1974 and 1978.
D is for Dunga; Brazil's manager is also a World Cup winning captain, leading the side to victory in the 1994 tournament. After initially being criticised by the country's media, the former Fiorentina midfielder is now enjoying the adulation in his homeland after a string of fine performances. Curiously, the nickname 'Dunga' means dopey in Portuguese.
E is for Exception; Spain are the only country who have topped the FIFA world rankings but have never won the World Cup.
F is for First; Hawar Mulla Mohammed scored the first goal by an Iraqi in the Champions League when he netted for Anorthosis Famagusta against Panathinaikos in October 2008.
G is for Gold Cup; the reason for United States' participation at this edition of the Confederations Cup. Team US defeated Mexico in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup final, 2-1. Landon Donovan and Benny Feilhaber cancelled out Andres Guardado's first half strike in front of 60,000 fans in Chicago.
H is for Hat-Tricks; Vladimir Smicer, the Czech Republic winger, netted the first hat-trick in the Confederations Cup, striking three against the UAE on December 17, 1997. Ronaldo became the first player to score a treble in the final of the same year, although he only bettered team-mate Romario by 16 minutes; the players shared the goals as Brazil hammered Australia 6-0 in the inaugural final.
I is for Iraq; despite the country being ravaged by war, the Iraq national team won the 2007 AFC Cup, as well as reaching fourth place in the preceding 2004 Olympic Games. As a result of their Asian success, the team were named World Soccer Magazine's Team of the Year for 2007 and were also nominated for the prestigious Prince of Asturias award.
J is for Johannesburg; South Africa's largest city and a venue for the Confederations Cup tournament. Johannesburg shares links with two cities from fellow competing nations. Jo'burg is a sister city of New York City, USA and Sao Paolo, Brazil.
K is for Kopanya; The Adidas Kopanya ball will be used at the Confederations Cup tournament. Since 1970 Adidas has manufactured the match balls for all major UEFA and FIFA tournaments, but for the first time ever they decided to design a new ball for the Confederations Cup in South Africa. Kopanya means 'join together' in Sotho, one of South Africa's 11 official languages, and the ball design is based on the art of the Ndebele people, a very creative culture in the country. The colours are based on the South African flag.
L is for Lippi; the manager of Italy, Marcello Lippi, has gone down in the history books as the man who led the Azzurri to their fourth World Cup. Following the 2006 tournament, Lippi resigned his post and bequeathed his position to Roberto Donadoni. After a horrendous Euro 2008, Lippi was reinstated for the 2010 qualification campaign.
M is for Miracle Worker; the nickname given to Bora Milutinovic, the Iraq manager, who is now coaching his eighth international team. Bora has had two spells at Mexico, and terms at USA, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Honduras, China and Jamaica. In addition, with Mexico (1986), Costa Rica (1990), USA (1994), Nigeria (1998) and China (2002), he has coached five different teams at five consecutive World Cups.
N is for Nicknames; The Confederations Cup teams feature a wide array of eclectic nicknames. The hosts, South Africa, are known as 'Bafana Bafana', African brethren Egypt go by the moniker 'The Pharoahs', Spain are 'La Furia Roja', New Zealand are called 'The All Whites' in a tribute to their rugby playing cousins, 'The All Blacks'.
O is for Oriundo; The Italians have a word for a foreigner of native origin: Oriundo. Eddie Firmani, born in South Africa in 1933, but who had an Italian grandfather, is the most successful South African to play in Italy, and is regarded by some as the greatest English league export ever to play in Serie A. He played for Charlton from 1950-55, and then spent the next eight years in Italy with Inter, Samp and Genoa. Firmani is the only player to have ever scored 100 goals in both Italy and England. He played for Italy as an 'Oriundo' and scored on his debut against Switzerland. His nickname among Inter fans was 'Cold Turkey' due to his perceived lack of effort on the pitch.
P is for Pressure; coming into the tournament, New Zealand are predicted to be the whipping boys. To avoid the wooden spoon and national embarrassment, the All Whites will look to their star-man, Shane Smeltz, their best chance of a goal at the Confederations Cup. So many of the nation's hopes have been pinned on his shoulders and the Gold Coast United stand-out is under enormous pressure to perform. An undoubted talent and the A-League's player of the year last season, South Africa could be the stage where he shows himself to the watching world - and potential European suitors.
Q is for Qatar; Iraq were controversially knocked out of the World Cup qualifiers at the last stage by a Qatar side who fielded a player Iraq felt was ineligible. Marcio Emerson Passos played for Brazil at youth level before switching allegiance to the Gulf side. After an enquiry, FIFA ruled in favour of Qatar.
R is for Ronaldinho; not present at this year's edition of the competition, 'Dinho' is nonetheless the tournament's all-time top scorer, alongside Cuauhtemoc Blanco of Mexico, with nine strikes.
S is for Shibobo; South African slang used to describe the skill of putting the ball through an opponents legs, or nutmeg. This is especially popular in South Africa, where skilful 'cheeky' players are appreciated by the fans.
T is for The Game of their Lives; a book by Geoffrey Douglas which was the subject of a 2005 documentary. It chronicled the greatest victory in the history of the United States national team. The 1950 World Cup in Brazil witnessed one of international football's greatest upsets when the US defeated England 1-0, in the group stages. Joe Gaetjens, a Haitian immigrant, netted the memorable goal.
U is for Undefeated; Spain are undefeated in 32 matches, having not lost a game since Romania beat them on November 15, 2006. Brazil hold the record at 35. Spain can equal the record by remaining unbeaten in the Confederations Cup group stage.
V is for Vuvuzela; this is a distinctive trumpet blown by South African football supporters at domestic matches and Bafana games in support of their teams. The atmosphere of a football match in South Africa is not complete without this noisy instrument, and fans going to South Africa for the World Cup will discover them at the games.
W is for Winless; Playing in only their third Confederations Cup, New Zealand have lost every other game they have played at the tournament and, drawn in a group alongside Spain, will be up against it as they look to arrest that pattern. Qualified for their one and only World Cup in 1982, where they lost every game.
X is for Xavi; The Spain midfielder has a knack of rising to the occasion. The Barcelona youth-product was named Player of the Tournament in last summer's European Championships and was also Man of the Match in the Champions League final against Manchester United.
Y is for Yellow; following Brazil's defeat to Uruguay in the Maracana at the 1950 World Cup, the team's uniforms were criticised for lacking patriotism. The simple white kits were jettisoned and a competition for a new design was initiated. The winning entrant was Aldyr Garcia Schlee, who put forward the yellow, blue and white design which is still in use today.
Z is for Zaki; Egypt's Amr Zaki was sprung from the bench in the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final against Senegal. He replaced Mido, who engaged coach Hassan Shehata in a touchline row as a result of being hooked. True to form, the prolific Zaki netted the winner within seconds of being introduced to send Egypt through to the final, where they overcame Ivory Coast to win their fifth African title.