The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFAconfederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament. A total of 197 teams entered the qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Due to France's abysmal campaign as defending champion in 2002, for the first time ever, the defending champion (Brazil) did not qualify automatically. The hosts (Germany) retained their automatic spot. In 1934, the defending champions (Uruguay) declined to participate and the hosts (Italy) had to qualify, but in the tournaments between 1938 and 2002 (inclusive), the hosts and the defending champions had automatic berths.

The original distribution of places between the six confederations called for Oceania to be given one full spot in the final 32; this idea was seen as virtually guaranteeing a place in the finals to Australia, by far the strongest footballing nation in the region. This decision was reconsidered in June 2003 and the previous distribution of places between Oceania and South America was restored.

The draw for five of the six qualification tournaments took place on 5 December 2003 in Frankfurt, whilst all of the members of the South American federation (CONMEBOL) competed in a single group. Qualification itself began in January 2004.

• 2Qualification process
• 3Confederation qualification
  • 3.1AFC
  • 3.2CAF
  • 3.3CONCACAF
  • 3.4CONMEBOL
  • 3.5OFC
  • 3.6UEFA
• 4Inter-confederation play-offs

Qualified teams[edit]

The following 32 teams qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup:

¹Includes 10 appearances by DFB representing West Germany between 1954 and 1990. Excludes 1 appearance by DVF representing East Germany between 1954 and 1990.

²Participated as a part of Soviet Union between 1930 and 1990.

³Includes appearances by pre-division Yugoslavia, as FIFA considers Serbia and Montenegro as a successor of a team.

⁴Includes appearances by Czechoslovakia, as FIFA considers Czech Republic as a successor of a team.

13 of the 32 teams subsequently failed to qualify for the 2010 finals: Angola, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Iran, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and Ukraine.

Qualification process[edit]

A total of 197 teams entered the qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, competing for a total of 32 spots in the final tournament. Germany, as the host, qualified automatically, leaving 31 spots open for competition.

Starting with these qualifiers, the defending champion (Brazil) was not granted automatic qualification for the first time, as France's disappointing performance and first round elimination in the previous tournament was considered to be due to lack of preparation that the qualifiers could have provided.

The final distribution was as follows:

The distribution by confederation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup is:^[2]

• AFC (Asia): 4 or 5 places
• CAF (Africa): 5 places
• CONCACAF (North, Central American and Caribbean): 3 or 4 places
• CONMEBOL (South America): 4 or 5 places
• OFC (Oceania): 0 or 1 place(s)
• UEFA (Europe): 13 places (+ Germany qualified automatically as host nation for a total of 14 places)

UEFA and CAF have a guaranteed number of places, whereas the number of qualifiers from other confederations is dependent on play-offs between AFC's fifth-placed team and CONMEBOL's fifth-placed team, and between CONCACAF's fourth-placed team and OFC's first-placed team. A draw determined the pairings between the four teams involved.

After the 2006 FIFA World Cup group stage of 2006 FIFA World Cup finals, the percentage of teams from each confederation that passed through to the round of 16 was as follows:

• AFC (Asia): 0% (0 of 4 places)
• CAF (Africa): 20% (1 of 5 places)
• CONCACAF (North, Central American and Caribbean): 25% (1 of 4 places)
• CONMEBOL (South America): 75% (3 of 4 places)
• OFC (Oceania): 100% (1 of 1 places)
• UEFA (Europe): 77% (10 of 14 places)

Summary of qualification[edit]

Tiebreakers[edit]

For FIFA World Cup qualifying stages using a league format, the method used for separating teams level on points is the same for all Confederations.The rules for separating teams level on points are decided by FIFA and can be found in article 18 part 6d to 6g of the FIFA Regulations 2006 World Cup Germany

If teams are even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams will be ranked by:

1. goal difference in all group matches
2. greater number of goals scored in all group matches
3. greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams
4. goal difference in matches between the tied teams
5. greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams
6. greater number of away goals scored in matches between the tied teams if only two teams are tied
7. single play-off at a neutral venue, with two 15-minutes periods of extra time and penalty shoot-out.

For FIFA World Cup qualifying stages using a home-and-away knockout format, the team that has the higher aggregate score over the two legs progresses to the next round. In the event that aggregate scores finish level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs progresses. If away goals are also equal, then thirty minutes of extra time are played, divided into two fifteen-minutes halves. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, i.e. if there are goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team qualifies by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by penalty shoot-out.

This is a change from the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where total goal difference was the first tiebreaker.

A total of 194 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 847 qualifying matches were played, and 2464 goals were scored (an average of 2.91 per match).

Confederation qualification[edit]

AFC[edit]

44 Asian teams are affiliated with FIFA, but Cambodia, Philippines, Bhutan and Brunei decided not to take part, and Myanmar was banned from the competition, so a total of 39 teams took part, competing for 4.5 places in the World Cup.

The qualification was composed of three rounds.

• First Round: The 14 last ranked teams according to FIFA were paired 2-by-2 and played home-and-away knock-out matches.
• Second Round: The 7 winners joined the other 25 teams where those 32 teams were divided in 8 groups of four teams each. The teams in each group would play against each other home-and-away, and the team with most points in each group would advance to the Third Round.
• Third Round: The 8 remaining teams were divided in two groups of 4 teams each, that would again play against each other in a home-and-away basis. The two teams with most points in each group would qualify to the World Cup. The two third placed teams would play-off against each other home-and-away. Winner of this play-off would play against the fourth placed team in the Final Round of CONCACAF in an intercontinental play-off for a place in the World Cup.

Final positions (Third Round)[edit]

Play-off for 5th place (Fourth Round)[edit]

Bahrain advanced to the AFC–CONCACAF play-off on the away goals rule.

CAF[edit]

The qualification was composed of two Rounds. 9 teams entered the competition directly on the Second Round: the 5 teams that qualified for the 2002 World Cup Finals (Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia) and the 4 highest-ranking teams in the June 25, 2003 FIFA world rankings (Congo DR, Ivory Coast, Egypt, and Morocco). The other 42 teams were paired 2-by-2 and played knock-out matches home-and-away. The 21 winners would advance to the Second Round.

In the Second Round, the 30 teams were divided in 5 groups of 6 teams each. Teams in each group would play against each other in a home-and-away basis. The team with most points in each group would qualify to the World Cup.

The competition also constituted the qualification competition for the 2006 African Nations Cup with the top three nations of each group qualifying (except for Egypt, which qualifies as the host nation, the fourth nation in Egypt's group qualifying in Egypt's place).

The African qualifying zone saw 4 out of 5 finals places going to World Cup debutants (Angola, Togo, Ivory Coast and Ghana). Nigeria missed out on a fourth consecutive finals appearance while Cameroon did not reach their fifth consecutive finals.

The African zone also featured a group of death — Group 3, which brought together Africa's most frequent World Cup qualifier Cameroon with the two eventual finalists of the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations: Egypt and the Ivory Coast.

Final positions (Second Round)[edit]

CONCACAF[edit]

The qualification process was divided in three stages. In the first stage, the 34 teams were divided in 10 groups of three teams each and two groups of two teams each. Groups with three teams had two rounds, with the best ranked team according to FIFA in each group entering the competition in the second round. In each group, teams were paired 2-by-2 and played home-and-away matches.

The 12 winners of the first stage advanced to the second stage, where they were divided into three groups of four teams each. Teams in each group would play against each other home-and-away, and the two teams with most points in each group would advance to the Final Round.

In the third stage, the six teams were put in a single group, and played against each other home-and-away. The three teams with most points qualified to the World Cup. The fourth placed team advanced to the AFC–CONCACAF play-off against the winner of a play-off between third placed teams in the Third Round of Asia.

Final positions (Fourth Round)[edit]

CONMEBOL[edit]

10 teams took part, all in a single group. The rules were very simple: the teams would play against each other in a home-and-away basis, with the four teams with most points qualifying to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The fifth ranked team would have to play-off against the best team from Oceania, with the winner of this play-off also qualifying. For the first time, Brazil, the defending champion, was required to go through qualification and was not automatically qualified for the tournament.

Final positions[edit]

OFC[edit]

12 teams took part, competing for a place in the intercontinental play-off against the fifth-placed team from South America. The winner of this play-off qualified for the World Cup.

Final positions (Second Round)[edit]

In the Second round, the six teams were put in a single group, and played against each other once. The two teams with most points advanced to a play-off, and played against each other home and away. The winner of this play-off advanced to the intercontinental play-off.

Final round[edit]

Australia and the Solomon Islands progressed to the final stage.

UEFA[edit]

A total of 51 teams took part, divided in 8 groups (five groups of six teams each and three groups of seven teams each) competing for 13 places in the World Cup. Germany, the hosts, were already qualified, for a total of 14 European places in the tournament. The qualifying process started on 18 August 2004, over a month after the end of UEFA Euro 2004, and ended on 16 November 2005.

The teams in each group would play against each other in a home and away basis. The team with most points in each group would qualify to the World Cup. The runners up would be ranked. For the sake of fairness, in groups with seven teams, results against the seventh placed team were ignored. The two best ranked runners up would also qualify to the World Cup. The other six runners up were drawn into three home and away knock out matches, winners of those matches also qualifying.

Final positions (First Round)[edit]

Play-offs[edit]

Sweden and Poland qualified directly to the World Cup. The other teams had to play off.

A draw was held on 14 October 2005 at FIFA headquarters in Zürich to pair each team from Pot 1 with a team from Pot 2. A second draw at the same time and location determined the order of the fixtures.

Inter-confederation play-offs[edit]

There were two scheduled inter-confederation playoffs to determine the final two qualification spots to the finals. The first legs were played on 12 November 2005, and the second legs were played on 16 November 2005.

CONCACAF v AFC[edit]

CONMEBOL v OFC[edit]

Withdrawals[edit]

• Central African Republic
• Guam
• Nepal

Did not enter[edit]

• Bhutan
• Brunei
• Cambodia
• Comoros
• Djibouti
• Philippines
• Puerto Rico
• Timor-Leste

Excluded[edit]

• Myanmar (for refusing to play a qualifier in Iran during 2002 qualifying).

Goalscorers[edit]

Included goals in the Inter-confederation play-offs.

14 goals

• Jared Borgetti

12 goals

• Stern John

11 goals

• Jaime Lozano
• Pauleta
• Emmanuel Adebayor

10 goals

• Ronaldo
• Carlos Ruiz

9 goals

• Didier Drogba
• Jan Koller
• Ali Daei
• Francisco Fonseca

8 goals

• Paulo Wanchope
• Alexei Eremenko
• Obafemi Martins
• Zlatan Ibrahimović

References[edit]

1. ^'FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking (17 May 2006)'. FIFA.com. FIFA. 17 May 2006. Retrieved 13 July 2010.
2. ^'Qualifiers'. FIFA. Retrieved 8 October 2011.

External links[edit]

The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition established in 1930. It is contested by the men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has taken place every four years, except in 1942 and 1946, when the competition was cancelled due to World War II. The most recent World Cup, hosted by Russia in 2018, was won by France, who beat Croatia 4–2 in regulation time.

The World Cup final match is the last of the competition, and the result determines which country is declared world champions. If after 90 minutes of regular play the score is a draw, an additional 30-minute period of play, called extra time, is added. If such a game is still tied after extra time, it is then decided by a penalty shoot-out. The team winning the penalty shoot-out are then declared champions.^[1] The tournament has been decided by a one-off match on every occasion except 1950, when the tournament winner was decided by a final round-robin group contested by four teams (Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden, and Spain). Uruguay's 2–1 victory over Brazil was the decisive match (and one of the last two matches of the tournament) which put them ahead on points and ensured that they finished top of the group as world champions. Therefore, this match is regarded by FIFA as the de facto final of the 1950 World Cup.^[2]

In the 21 tournaments held, 79 nations have appeared at least once. Of these, 13 have made it to the final match, and eight have won.^{[n 1]} With five titles, Brazil is the most successful World Cup team and also the only nation to have participated in every World Cup finals tournament.^[4]Italy and Germany have four titles. Current champion France, along with past champions Uruguay and Argentina, have two titles each, while England and Spain have one each. The team that wins the finals receive the FIFA World Cup Trophy, and their name is engraved on the bottom side of the trophy.^[5]

The 1970 and 1994, along with the 1986, 1990 and 2014 games are to date the only matches competed by the same teams (Brazil–Italy and Argentina–Germany respectively). As of 2018, the 1934 final^{[n 2]} remains the latest final to have been between two teams playing their first final. The final match of the most recent tournament in Russia took place at the country's biggest sports complex, the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.^[6] The 1930 and the 1966 games are the only ones that did not take place on a Sunday. The former did on a Wednesday and the latter on a Saturday. As of 2018, only nations from Europe and South America have competed in a World Cup final. Six nations have won the final as host: Uruguay, Italy, England, Germany, Argentina and France. Two nations have lost the final as host: Brazil and Sweden.

List of finals[edit]

• The 'Year' column refers to the year the World Cup was held, and wikilinks to the article about that tournament. The wikilinks in the 'Final score' column point to the article about that tournament's final game. Links in the 'Winners' and 'Runners-up' columns point to the articles for the national football teams of the countries, not the articles for the countries.

Results[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

1. ^This follows FIFA's consideration that the national teams of West Germany/Germany, Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic, Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro/Serbia, and USSR/Russia are combined respectively for record-keeping.^[3]
2. ^Technically the 1958 final was also between two first timers, but Brazil's 1950 group game defeat is generally counted as a previous 'final' appearance for the team.
3. ^Score was 1–1 after 90 minutes.^[9][10]
4. ^The 1950 FIFA World Cup did not have a final, rather, the tournament was decided by a 4-team round robin phase.
5. ^Not the final but the decisive match of the final group stage.
6. ^Score was 2–2 after 90 minutes.^[22][23]
7. ^Score was 1–1 after 90 minutes.^[28][29]
8. ^Score was 0–0 after 120 minutes. Brazil won 3–2 on penalties.^[36][37]
9. ^Score was 1–1 after 120 minutes. Italy won 5–3 on penalties.^[42][43]
10. ^Score was 0–0 after 90 minutes.^[44][45]
11. ^Score was 0–0 after 90 minutes.^[46][47]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

General

• 'World Cup 1930–2014'. Rec. Sport. Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). 17 July 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.

Specific

1. ^'Laws of the Game'(PDF). FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Retrieved 9 February 2009.
2. ^ ^ab'FIFA World Cup Finals since 1930'(PDF). FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Retrieved 3 February 2009.
3. ^'All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010'(PDF). FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Retrieved 30 January 2013.
4. ^'World Cup Spotlight on Brazil'. CNN. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
5. ^'Taça da Copa do Mundo chega ao Brasil (World Cup trophy arrives in Brazil)'. Globo TV. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
6. ^Ogden, Mark (20 October 2014). 'Russia's Luzhniki Stadium ahead of schedule for 2018 World Cup Final'. www.telegraph.co.uk.
7. ^'1930 FIFA World Cup Uruguay'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
8. ^'World Cup history – Uruguay 1930'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
9. ^ ^ab'1934 FIFA World Cup Italy'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 23 March 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
10. ^ ^ab'World Cup history – Italy 1934'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
11. ^'1938 FIFA World Cup France'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 21 January 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
12. ^'World Cup history – France 1938'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
13. ^Janela, Mike (12 June 2018). 'World Cup Rewind: Largest attendance at a match in the 1950 Brazil final'. Guinness World Records. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
14. ^'1950 FIFA World Cup Brazil'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Retrieved 26 January 2009.
15. ^'World Cup history – Brazil 1950'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
16. ^'1954 FIFA World Cup Switzerland'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 20 July 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
17. ^'World Cup history – Switzerland 1954'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
18. ^'1958 FIFA World Cup Sweden'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 17 February 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
19. ^'World Cup history – Sweden 1958'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
20. ^'1962 FIFA World Cup Chile'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 17 February 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
21. ^'World Cup history – Chile 1962'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
22. ^ ^ab'1966 FIFA World Cup England'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
23. ^ ^ab'World Cup history – England 1966'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
24. ^'1970 FIFA World Cup Mexico'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 25 January 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
25. ^'World Cup history – Mexico 1970'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
26. ^'1974 FIFA World Cup Germany'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 26 January 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
27. ^'World Cup history – West Germany 1974'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
28. ^ ^ab'1978 FIFA World Cup Argentina'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
29. ^ ^ab'World Cup history – Argentina 1978'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
30. ^'1982 FIFA World Cup Spain'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 30 January 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
31. ^'World Cup history – Spain 1982'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
32. ^'1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 29 January 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
33. ^'World Cup history – Mexico 1986'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
34. ^'1990 FIFA World Cup Italy'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 15 November 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
35. ^'World Cup history – Italy 1990'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
36. ^ ^ab'1994 FIFA World Cup USA'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
37. ^ ^ab'World Cup history – USA 1994'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
38. ^'1998 FIFA World Cup France'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
39. ^'World Cup history – France 1998'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
40. ^'2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Archived from the original on 30 January 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
41. ^'World Cup history – Japan & South Korea 2002'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
42. ^ ^ab'2006 FIFA World Cup Germany'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Retrieved 26 January 2009.
43. ^ ^ab'Zidane off as Italy win World Cup'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 4 May 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
44. ^ ^ab'2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Retrieved 12 May 2012.
45. ^ ^ab'Netherlands 0–1 Spain (aet)'. BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 12 May 2012.
46. ^ ^ab'Estadio Do Maracana, Rio de Janeiro'. FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). 18 January 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
47. ^ ^abMcNulty, Phil (13 July 2014). 'Germany 1–0 Argentina'. BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 19 July 2014.

External links[edit]