Massive thanks to the everpresent Nanny from the forums for this piece of information.

On the official FIFA forums, Simon Humber has partaken in a Q&A session with the fans, in a bid to answer the many questions going through peoples minds. After the jump, we have a large segment of the Q&A, with some very interesting information!

Here are some other things he has already posted:

Loads of threads about exactly which 199 teams are in the game so here you go.

These are the nations that FIFA permitted us to include, others are not allowed for various reasons.

You can play any of these in the online & offline World Cup tournaments.

All are fully licensed, which means we are allowed to use the real player names & crests.

Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Chad Chile China PR Chinese Taipei Colombia Comoros Congo Congo DR Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote d’Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England (- C’mon England!!!) Equatorial Guinea Estonia Ethiopia Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Korea DPR Korea Republic Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Moldova Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Northern Ireland Norway Oman Pakistan Palestine Panama Paraguay Peru Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Scotland Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Tahiti Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands U.S. Virgin Islands Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Wales Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Will all have detailed kits? In 2006 only some had detailed kits. Just asking.

Not all of them, as many as we were able to build with the art team we had and with the reference we were given.

When you select World Cup mode are the groups going to be the ones that have been drawn for the world cup or will they be random? Also the same question about the qualification rounds.

Real or custom, up to you.

On throphy celebrations:

Oh yes, you get presented with the trophy very nicely

On list of managers in the game

Managers will be announced at a later date.

When can we expect the next bit of information, video, pictures, announcements?

In a few more weeks!

About the online world cup:

We haven’t posted as nobody told us about this dev team forum. We’ll start from now on but we’re working on the game which is the most important use of our time right now.

Personally I think it’s the best online mode we’ve done. It’s very exciting to play.

You choose any of the 199 nations and as TT31P says, we match you against someone at the same match of the tournament, attempting to avoid any team or gamer you’ve already met.

If you finish in the top two in your group you go into the Round of 16 and all the thrills of knockout football.

The third group game is also exciting since this is played simultaneously in real life, so in the game we give score updates from the other match in your group so you can alter your strategy according to where your score and the other score leave you in the table.

Envisage getting the job as director of EA’s sports contract games. The initiation would be like the first day of a long vacation, with the head of HR slinging a hammock in your new place of work as he talked you through the particulars of your new position: ‘You’ve got a couple of games to get out a year,’ he’d articulate, ‘and they’re on the whole already done at the beginning of the development cycle, so just kick back and relax.’

Sound familiar? It should, because that, my friends, is the introduction to Pocket Gamer’s review of FIFA 08, run through a thesaurus a bit so it looks a little better. (Watch it – Ed.)

It was how I intended to open the review of FIFA 09, in a hilarious literal parody of what I was sure would be yet another EA battery-farmed sports game.

Well, how wrong I was. You see, far from replicating the pigeon-steps of recent FIFAs, 09 represents a significant step forward in the handheld simulation of football, expanding the boundaries of portable gaming so joyously you could probably play it non-stop forever. Or as long as your batteries last.

In the past week, I’ve let out audible gasps on the train, tutted on the tube and have punched the sofa in disgust, such is the way FIFA has emotionally engaged. Honestly, if FIFA continues evoking such passions, by the end of the week I fully expect to be involved in running pitched battles with PES supporters. And by next month I’ll be giving anyone who bought the abominable World Tour Soccer a Chelsea smile.

This new-found loyalty’s not because of FIFA’s now-familiar Manager mode. Nor the excellent quizzes, or the online play and interactive leagues, which I’m convinced no-one uses anyway.

No, this new-found FIFA enthusiasm is thanks to the Be a Pro mode, which is easily the best addition to the footballing genre (on handheld, at least –the concept is familiar from Namco’s PSone title Libero Grande) since whoever invented the through-ball invented the through-ball.

Be a Pro mode really shouldn’t be as staggeringly brilliant as it is. On paper – or the Internet, in this case – it doesn’t look like much: pick a player from any of the game’s billion domestic and foreign leagues, and play matches controlling him and only him. For four seasons. That’s it. If you’re lucky, you’ll control the ball about a tenth of the time you would in a standard game of FIFA. For the rest of the time, you’re a sporting tourist.

A special camera offers a dynamically zoomed view of the pitch, and it’s up to you to control your runs, call for passes, spot gaps in the defence, that sort of thing. At first, you simply concentrate on your own play and position but as your career progress, you earn more influence over the teamplay. You can call for your mates to shoot on your command, or demand pressure on goalies. Over time your player journeys from bit-part player to player-manager, effectively conducting most areas of play.

Between matches, you earn points for performing specific match-day tasks, with more added if the team as a whole meets certain criteria. Whilst it’s clear that many of these objectives are randomly generated, they never cease to elevate each game from a goal-scoring competition to something entirely more tactical.

Once a specific number of points have been accrued, you’re given the option to improve key footballing abilities. Wisely choosing which skills to improve is key to real player progression. If this is all sounds a bit RPG, that’s because it is – you’ll be leveling-up and increasing stats much like in a traditional role-player. But instead of then heading off to slay dragons in nerdy fetch quests, you’ll be entering some of the world’s greatest sporting arenas to score goals.

Actually, that’s not strictly speaking true. Proof of the success of the Be a Pro mode is that it’s not just about the goals any more. There’s an equal amount of satisfaction to be gleaned from spotting a run and playing a defence-splitting through-ball, or knocking a dinky one-two en route to goal. In these virtual arenas, I’ve stood stationery having played a team-mate through, willing him to score. When he has, I’ve actually raised the PSP triumphantly, smiling when the two players embrace. Which is clearly bonkers. But an example of the game’s brilliance.

Outside of the Be a Pro mode, FIFA 09 is as comprehensive, authentic and good-looking as always. The only major addition is a new casual mode, which in theory lets anyone play a decent game of football, albeit with most of the interactivity simplified. It’s a nice touch, meaning absolutely everyone can pick up and play.

Which they should. Because FIFA 09 really is the new benchmark by which all handheld football games should be judged. Absolutely stunning.

FIFA, the world’s governing body of soccer, Electronic Arts Inc and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe today announced the official kick-off of the second phase of the 2010 FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) online competition. This year’s FIWC season has been split into two phases to ensure that even more players have the opportunity to compete in the tournament. The first phase, which concluded on December 18, 2009, saw over 400,000 players from around the world compete online on EA SPORTS™ FIFA Soccer 10 on the PlayStation®3 (PS3™), via PlayStation®Network to secure the first 11 places at this year’s FIWC Grand Final, which will take place at Port Olympic in Barcelona on May 1, 2010

The online leaderboard from the FIWC 2010 phase 1 has now been wiped clean, giving those players who weren’t able to participate or didn’t make it into the top 10 another shot at claiming one of the remaining 11 online Grand Final spots*. To participate in the FIWC 2010 online, players can register directly inside the retail version of FIFA 10 on PS3 from January 5, 2010 and start competing right away. Alternatively, live qualifier events for an additional nine Grand Final places will take place in Sydney, Sao Paulo, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Moscow, Johannesburg and London.

Following the culmination of this year’s competition in Barcelona, the FIWC World Champion will be crowned officially at the FIFA World Player Gala 2010, a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the real life football stars in person.

* For full FIWC 2010 tournament terms & conditions, please see www.fifa.com/fiwc