In an effort to get to know the teams that are playing in the FIFA 2010 World Cup, we decided to make a list of all the teams and their nicknames. We are huge fans of diversity, so getting to know the teams by their names is a good place to start. Next in the series will be the teams and their national anthems.

We’re not sure exactly how accurate some of these are, but as far as we know, these are all 32 countries’ nicknames. Except Slovenia. Try as we might, we could not find the name of the Slovenian team.

If you know otherwise, please feel free to let us know!

Algeria – Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes)
Argentina – La Albiceleste (White and Sky blue)
Australia – Socceroos, Aussies
Brazil – Canarinho (Little Canary), A Seleção (The Selection), Verde-Amarela (Green and Yellow), The Samba Kings
Cameroon - Les Lions Indomables (The Indomitable Lions)
Chile - La Roja (The red one), El Equipo de Todos (Everybody’s team)
Côte d’Ivoire - Les Éléphants (The Elephants)
Denmark – Danish Dynamite, Olsen-Banden (The Olsen Gang), Olsens Elleve (Olsen’s Eleven)
England – The Three Lions
France – Les Bleus (“The Blues”), L’Equipe tricolore (“The Tri-color Team”)
Germany – Die Mannschaft (The Team), used by non German-speaking media Die DFB-Elf (The DFB-Eleven)
Ghana – The Black Stars
Greece – Ethniki Ellados (The Greek National Team)
Honduras – Los Catrachos (Catrachos just means of Salvador), La Bicolor (meaning the double-coloured), La H (obvious meaning here)
Italy – Azzurri (Light Blue)
Japan – Samurai Blue
Korea Republic – Taegeuk Jeonsa (Taegeuk Warriors)
Korea DPR – Chollima (thousand-mile horse)
Mexico – “El Tri” (After the three colours in the Mexican flag)
Netherlands – Oranje, Holland
New Zealand – All Whites
Nigeria – Super Eagles
Paraguay – Guaraníes, La Albirroja (White and red)
Portugal – Selecção das Quinas (refers to the five shields in the Portuguese flag)
Serbia – Beli Orlovi (White Eagles)
Slovakia – The Fighting Jondas
Slovenia – try as we might, we can’t find the Slovenian national team name
South Africa – Bafana Bafana (The Boys)
Spain – La Furia Roja (The Red Fury)
Switzerland – Schweizer Nati
Uruguay – La Celeste Olímpica (The Olympic Sky Blue)
USA – The Yanks