Football World Cup 2006 Germany

Qualification

Qualification AFC | Qualification CAF | Qualification CONCACAF | Qualification CONMEBOL | Qualification OFC | Qualification UEFA | Asia-CONCACAF Qualification Playoff | European Qualification Playoffs | Oceania-South America Qualification Playoff

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In the qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the six FIFA confederations were allocated a share of the 32 spots available on the basis of the strength of their teams. The final distribution was as follows:

The .5 was for the 32nd team, which could be from either Asia or Oceania.

Notes on qualification

For the first time ever, the defending champion (Brazil) does not qualify automatically. The hosts (Germany) will retain 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; however, this idea was seen as giving Australia a virtually certain place in the finals, being by far the strongest footballing nation in their 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 December 5, 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.

Qualified teams

Team Appearance Streak Previous appearance
Angola 1st 1 -
Argentina 14th 9 2002
Australia 2nd 1 1974
Brazil 18th 18 2002
Costa Rica 3rd 2 2002
Côte d'Ivoire 1st 1 -
Croatia 3rd(1) 3 2002
Czech Republic 1st(2) 1 -(2)
Ecuador 2nd 2 2002
England 12th 3 2002
France 12th 3 2002
Germany (h) 16th(3) 14(3) 2002
Ghana 1st 1 -
Iran 3rd 1 1998
Italy 16th 12 2002
Japan 3rd 3 2002
South Korea 7th 6 2002
Mexico 13th 4 2002
Netherlands 8th 1 1998
Paraguay 7th 3 2002
Poland 7th 2 2002
Portugal 4th 2 2002
Saudi Arabia 4th 4 2002
 Serbia and Montenegro 2nd(4) 1 1998(4)
Spain 12th 8 2002
Sweden 11th 2 2002
  Switzerland 8th 1 1994
Togo 1st 1 -
Trinidad and Tobago 1st 1 -
Tunisia 4th 3 2002
Ukraine 1st(5) 1 -(5)
United States 8th 5 2002

(h) - qualified automatically as hosts

1Excludes appearances by pre-division Yugoslavia.
2Excludes appearances by Czechoslovakia. If those are counted together, this is their 9th appearance, and their previous appearance was in 1990.
3Includes 10 appearances by DFB representing West Germany between 1954 and 1990.
4Excludes appearances by pre-division Yugoslavia. If those are counted together, this is their 10th appearance. This is also their first appearance after the name change from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to Serbia and Montenegro.
5Excludes appearances by pre-division USSR.

Qualification Groups

Europe (UEFA)

(14 berths, including Germany as host)
The ten teams in bold qualified for the Football World Cup 2006.
The three teams in bold italics qualified for the Football World Cup 2006 through a single-pairing home-and-away playoff.
The three teams in italics qualified for the playoff, but did not qualify for the World Cup.

Ukraine qualified for the 2006 World Cup on September 3, 2005.
Croatia, England, Italy, Poland, Netherlands and Portugal qualified on October 8, 2005.
France, Sweden and Serbia and Montenegro qualified on October 12, 2005.
Czech Republic, Spain and Switzerland qualified through the playoffs on November 16, 2005
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4
1. Netherlands 1. Ukraine 1. Portugal 1. France
2. Czech Republic 2. The flag of Turkey Turkey 2. Slovakia 2.   Switzerland
3. Romania 3. Denmark 3. Russia 3. Israel
4. Finland 4. Greece 4. Estonia 4. Republic of Ireland
5. Republic of Macedonia 5. Albania 5. Latvia 5. Cyprus
6. Andorra 6. Georgia 6. Liechtenstein 6. Faroe Islands
7. Armenia 7. Kazakhstan 7. Luxembourg  
Group 5 Group 6 Group 7 Group 8
1. Italy 1. England 1.  Serbia and Montenegro 1. Croatia
2. Norway 2. Poland 2. Spain 2. Sweden
3. Scotland 3. Austria 3. Bosnia & Herzegovina 3. Bulgaria
4. Slovenia 4. Northern Ireland 4. Belgium 4. Hungary
5. Belarus 5. Wales 5. Lithuania 5. Iceland
6. Moldova 6. Azerbaijan 6. San Marino 6. Malta

The draw for the playoffs was made on Friday, 14th October.

South American (CONMEBOL)

(4 berths, after losing a playoff against Oceania)

This zone is played as a league system on a home-and-away basis involving all 10 teams in a tournament which began in September 2003. The top 4 teams qualify automatically for the 2006 World Cup Finals; the fifth-placed team played off with Oceania.

Final Standings:

In bold: Clinched World Cup berth
Argentina qualified to participate in World Cup 2006, after a 3-1 win against Brazil on 8 June 2005.
Brazil qualified after a 5-0 win over Chile on 4 September 2005.
Paraguay and Ecuador got their ticket on 8 October 2005
In italics: Qualified for a play-off against Australia.
Uruguay had a home-and-away playoff against Oceania winner Australia on 12 and 16 November, having secured 5th place on October 12. The play-offs ended in a 1-0 victory for each home team, and Australia won the penalty shootout 4-2.
Country GP W D L GF GA Pts
1. Brazil 18 9 7 2 35 17 34
2. Argentina 18 10 4 4 29 17 34
3. Ecuador 18 8 4 6 23 19 28
4. Paraguay 18 8 4 5 23 23 28
5. Uruguay 18 6 7 5 23 28 25
6. Colombia 18 6 6 6 24 16 24
7. Chile 18 5 7 6 18 22 22
8. Venezuela 18 5 3 10 20 28 18
9. Peru 18 4 6 8 20 28 18
10. Bolivia 18 4 2 12 20 37 13

A full list of all matches and results, along with the current standings in this tournament can be found at Football World Cup 2006 - South American Qualification Groups.

Africa (CAF)

(5 berths)

Teams that have clinched a spot in the World Cup are in bold.
Togo qualified with a 3-2 win over Congo on 8 October.
Ghana wins their group with the South Africa-Congo DR 2-2 draw on 8 October.
Cote d'Ivoire clinched their berth with the Cameroon-Egypt 1-1 draw, on 8 October.
Angola qualified for the 2006 World Cup with a 1-0 win over Rwanda on 8 October.
Tunisia qualified on 8 October with a 2-2 tie against Morocco.
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5
1. Togo 1.  Ghana 1. Côte d'Ivoire 1.  Angola 1.  Tunisia
2.  Senegal 2.  Congo DR 2.  Cameroon 2.  Nigeria 2. Morocco
3.  Zambia 3. South Africa 3.  Egypt 3.  Zimbabwe 3.  Guinea
4.  Congo 4.  Burkina Faso 4.  Libya 4.  Gabon 4.  Kenya
5.  Mali 5.  Cape Verde 5.  Sudan 5.  Algeria 5.  Botswana
6.  Liberia 6.  Uganda 6.  Benin 6.  Rwanda 6.  Malawi

The above standings is the final order of finish. Complete details of all knockout matches from the first stage of qualification may be found at Football World Cup 2006 - African Qualification Groups, along with detailed standings and match schedules for the group stage of qualification.

Oceania (OFC)

(1 berth after winning a playoff with South America)

 Australia won Oceania's representative berth to play-off against the fifth placed team from the South American Zone. On September 3, 2005,  Australia won the first of the two matches to be played against  Solomon Islands 7-0. Australia won the second match 2-1 on September 6, 2005, winning 9-1 on aggregate and won the right to playoff against the fifth placed South American team. This was Uruguay, as they qualified in 5th place on October 12, 2005, after beating Argentina 1-0. Australia finally prevailed 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out after both play-off matches had ended 1-0 for the home team.

Full details of prior group stages, along with league tables are available at Football World Cup 2006 - Oceania Qualification Groups.

Asia (AFC)

(4 berths, after losing a playoff to CONCACAF)

Group A Group B
1.  Saudi Arabia 1.  Japan
2.  South Korea 2.  Iran
3.  Uzbekistan 3.  Bahrain
4.  Kuwait 4.  North Korea

Full updates of the Asian Football Confederation qualification process, including the two prior stages, can be found at Football World Cup 2006 - Asian Qualification Groups. As of 8 June, 2005, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, and Iran are officially qualified to participate in World Cup 2006.

Uzbekistan and Bahrain (the 3rd place teams in each group) played a home-and-away match to determine Asia's representative in a playoff against CONCACAF's 4th place team, and are displayed in italics. The result of the first game, played on September 3, 2005, Uzbekistan won 1-0. However, on September 6, 2005, FIFA had decided that the match was to be declared void and ordered a replay following a refereeing blunder. The playoff was postponed to October 8 in Uzbekistan and October 12 in Bahrain. The October 8 match ended in a 1-1 draw, and the October 12 match was a 0-0 draw. Bahrain, having scored one away goal to Uzbekistan's zero, advanced to the playoff. Bahrain lost the playoff on November 16, 2005.

North America, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF)

(4 berths by winning a playoff with Asia)

Teams that have clinched berths for 2006 are bolded.
United States clinched the first berth to Germany with a 2-0 win over Mexico on September 3 2005.
Mexico clinched the second of the three guaranteed berths on September 7 with a 5-0 win over Panama.
Costa Rica clinched the final automatic berth on October 8 with a 3-0 win over the United States.
Trinidad and Tobago, earned a playoff with the Asian 5th-place winner Bahrain with a 2-1 victory over Mexico on October 12. They subsequently won the playoff on November 16, 2005 on aggregate 2-1, clinching a 2006 berth. They are in bold italics.
1. United States
2. Mexico
3. Costa Rica
4. Trinidad and Tobago
5. Guatemala
6. Panama

Full details of the qualification process for this confederation, along with results of previous stages of competition, can be found at Football World Cup 2006 - North, Central American and Caribbean Qualification Groups.

Playoffs

On November 12 and November 16, 2005, five two-legged playoffs were conducted, with the winners earning the last five places in the World Cup:

Summary

The teams that were involved in the playoffs are listed below. Qualifying countries shown in bold.

(Czech Republic, Turkey, and Spain were seeded because they were the three highest placed according to the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking for September 2005.)

External links

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