Portugal has been placed in the FIFA 2010 World Cup’s Group of Death, alongside Brazil, Ivory Coast and North Korea.
A group of death in a multi-stage tournament is a preliminary group which is unusually competitive, because the number of strong competitors in the group is greater than the number of qualifying places available for the next phase of the tournament. Thus, in the preliminary round, one or more strong competitors in the “group of death” will necessarily be eliminated, who would otherwise have been expected to progress further in the tournament. The informal term was first used for groups in the FIFA World Cup finals. It is now used by also in other association football tournaments and other sports.