With both the Netherlands and Spain attempting to win their first FIFA World Cup, the 2010 final became the sixth final to be contested between non-former champions after 1930, 1934, 1954, 1958, and 1978. The Netherlands had been beaten in the final in 1974 and 1978, while Spain's best performance had been fourth place in 1950. It was the second consecutive all-European final, and marked the first time a European team has won the trophy outside Europe
The match ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final, revealed on 20 April 2010, was the Jo'bulani, a gold version of the Adidas Jabulani ball used for every other match in the tournament.The name of the ball is a reference to "Jo'burg", a common nickname for Johannesburg, the match venue. The gold colouring of the ball mirrors the colour of the FIFA World Cup Trophy and also echoes another of Johannesburg's nicknames: "the City of Gold".The Jo'bulani is the second ball to be specifically produced for the FIFA World Cup Final, after the Teamgeist Berlin was used for the 2006 final.
Iniesta scored the dramatic winner, 27 minutes into extra time, to claim Spain's biggest ever sporting achievement.
In a fiery game which always looked destined for extra time, English referee Howard Webb issued 13 bookings, while Holland's Johnny Heitinga saw red in the second half of extra time after receiving a second booking.
The victory sees Spain become only the third nation to hold the European and world football crowns at the same time, two years on from their European Championships success in Vienna.
The result continues a history of Dutch failure on football's greatest stage, having also been losing finalists in 1974 and 1978.
Iniesta's winner was met with scenes of joy in Madrid, where over 200,000 fans gathered to watch the match on a big screen in the city centre.
The referee for the final was Howard Webb, representing The Football Association of England. He was assisted by fellow Englishmen Darren Cann and Mike Mullarkey. Webb was the first Englishman to referee a World Cup final since Jack Taylor officiated the 1974 final between the Netherlands and West Germany.
A police officer from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, 38-year-old Webb is one of the English Select Group Referees, and has officiated Premier League matches since 2003. He was appointed to the FIFA list of international match referees in 2005, and before the World Cup, he had taken charge of the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final and the 2009 FA Cup Final.
At the 2010 World Cup, Webb refereed three games, all with Cann and Mullarkey as his assistants. In the group stage, he refereed the Spain–Switzerland and Slovakia–Italy games, and then took charge of the Brazil–Chile match in the Round of 16. In those three games, he never showed a red card or awarded a penalty, but he did issue the second highest number of yellow cards in the tournament, an average of 5.67 bookings per game. With fourteen yellow cards in the final (one red card to John Heitinga – twice yellow), he easily broke the previous record of six for most cards in a World Cup final, set in 1986. Nine of these Final yellow cards came in the first 90 minutes. Webb's total of 31 yellow cards throughout the tournament came to an average of 7.75 per game.
In Spain, the final attracted 15.6 million total Spanish viewers across three networks, which represents 86% share of the audience, becoming the highest rated TV broadcast in Spanish history.Spain’s previous record was set by the Euro 2008 quarter-final penalty shootout between Spain and Italy, which drew 14.1 million viewers.
In the Netherlands, 12.2 million people watched the final on television, which is 74% of the total population of the country.
In United States, World Cup television viewership rose 41 percent over 2006 final for English-language telecasts, with the final setting a record for a men's football game. The final in Johannesburg, which gave the Spanish their first World Cup title, was seen by 15,545,000 viewers on ABC, according to fast national ratings. The previous high was 14,863,000 viewers for the United States' 2–1 extra time loss to Ghana in the second round on 26 June. An additional 8.821 million viewers watched Spanish-language coverage on Univision, according to Nielsen Media Research, bringing the total to nearly 24.4 million.
The final received an 8.1 rating on ABC, up 6 percent from the 7.7 for Italy's penalty-kicks win over France in the 2006 final. This was the fourth-highest rating for a men's World Cup game behind Brazil's penalty-kicks victory over Italy in the 1994 final at the Rose Bowl (9.5), Brazil's second-round victory over the U.S. in 1994 (9.3) and Ghana-U.S. match in 2010 (8.5).
Viewership for the final on Univision was up 49 percent from 5,903,000 for 2006. It was the third most-watched program on U.S. Spanish-language TV, trailing Argentina's win over Mexico on June 27 (9,405,000) and the finale of the novella "Destilando Amor (Essence of Love)" on Dec. 3, 2007 (9,018,000).
In Canada, coverage of the final brought in unprecedented numbers of viewers. It attracted an average audience of 5.131 million to the CBC, with a peak of 7.664 million, according to BBM overnight measurements. Radio-Canada television drew 685,000 in French for a combined 5.816 million watchers, a number 105 per cent higher than the English and French broadcasts of the 2006 final brought in.
The final was played on 11 July 2010 at Soccer City, Johannesburg. Spain defeated the Netherlands 1–0, after an extra time goal by Andrés Iniesta The win gave Spain its first World Cup title. It was the first time since England in 1966 that the winners of the final wore their second-choice strip.
The match had the most yellow cards awarded in a World Cup final, more than doubling the previous record for a final, set when Argentina and West Germany shared six cards in 1986. Fourteen yellow cards were awarded (nine of which to the Netherlands), and John Heitinga of the Netherlands was sent off for a second yellow. One yellow card was for Nigel de Jong's studs-up kick to the chest of Xabi Alonso during the first half, for which Rob Hughes of the New York Times, among others, believed the referee should have given a red card.
The Netherlands had several chances to score, most notably in the 60th minute when Arjen Robben was released by Wesley Sneijder putting him one-on-one with Spain's goalkeeper Iker Casillas, but Casillas pushed the shot wide with an outstretched leg. Meanwhile, for Spain, Sergio Ramos missed a free header from a corner kick when he was unmarked. Dutch captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst was substituted in the 105th minute by Edson Braafheid; Real Madrid midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, who had come on as a substitute in the 99th minute for Nigel de Jong, took over as captain for the last 15 minutes. From the 109th minute on the Dutch played with 10 men due to Heitinga's second yellow card. With a penalty shootout seeming inevitable, Jesús Navas sprinted into opposing territory and began a series of passes that led to Iniesta finally breaking the deadlock four minutes before the end of extra time, scoring with a right footed half-volleyed shot low to the goalkeeper's right after receiving a pass from Cesc Fàbregas on the right of the penalty area.
Just before the goal was scored, the Dutch team had a free kick that hit the wall (apparently taking a deflection off Fàbregas) before going out. Despite the deflection, which should have given possession and a corner kick to the Dutch, a goal kick was given to Spain, starting the play that led to the goal. The Dutch, however, momentarily had possession of the ball near the Spanish penalty area in between the goal kick and Iniesta's goal. Joris Mathijsen was yellow-carded for his strong protests to the referee after the goal, and other Dutch players criticised Webb for this decision after the match. Iniesta was yellow-carded for the removal of his team shirt when celebrating his goal. Underneath he had a white vest with the handwritten message: "Dani Jarque siempre con nosotros" ("Dani Jarque, always with us").
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