The

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA

confederations A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa),

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch language, Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CON ...

(North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania), and

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

(Europe) – was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament. A total of 197 teams entered the qualification process for the

. In 2001 FIFA ended automatic qualification of the reigning champion, so that 2002 champions

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

became first to participate in the qualifying tournament. The hosts (

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

) retained their automatic spot. 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 Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

, whilst all of the members of the South American federation ( CONMEBOL) competed in a single group. Qualification itself began in September 2003.

Qualified teams

The following 32 teams qualified for the

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

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

between 1954 and 1990. ²Participated as a part of

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

between 1930 and 1990. ³Includes appearances by pre-division

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, as FIFA considers Serbia and Montenegro as a successor of a team. ⁴Includes appearances by

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, as FIFA considers Czech Republic as a successor of a team.

Qualification process

A total of 197 teams entered the qualification process for the

, competing for a total of 32 spots in the final tournament.

, as the host, qualified automatically, leaving 31 spots open for competition. Starting with these qualifiers, the defending champion (

) was not granted automatic qualification for the first time. FIFA announced the decision in December 2001 at the draw for the 2002 Finals Tournament. The official reason was that the

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

es to which previous champions were restricted provided inferior preparation to the competitive qualification matches others would have played. Media also noted that the change released an extra place for the contentious distribution of places by confederation. The final distribution was as follows: The distribution by confederation for the 2006 FIFA World Cup was: * AFC (Asia): 4 or 5 places * CAF (Africa): 5 places *

(North, Central American and Caribbean): 3 or 4 places * CONMEBOL (South America): 4 or 5 places * OFC (Oceania): 0 or 1 place(s) *

(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 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

was as follows: * AFC (Asia): 0% (0 of 4 places) * CAF (Africa): 20% (1 of 5 places) *

(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) *

(Europe): 77% (10 of 14 places)

Summary of qualification

Tiebreakers

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: # greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned # goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned # greatest number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned # goal difference in all group matches # greatest number of goals scored in all group matches # a play-off on neutral ground. If, after 90 minutes, this match ends in a draw, extra time of twice 15 minutes will be played. If the score is level after extra time, penalty kicks will be taken to determine the winner. 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 The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. 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

AFC

44 Asian teams are affiliated with FIFA, but

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

and

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

decided not to take part, and

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

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

in an intercontinental play-off for a place in the World Cup.

Final positions (Third Round)

Play-off for 5th place (Fourth Round)

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

CAF

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 Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, and

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

) and the 4 highest-ranking teams in the June 25, 2003 FIFA world rankings (

Congo DR The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

). 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 The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Egypt w ...

: Egypt and the Ivory Coast.

Final positions (Second Round)

CONCACAF

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 Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Final positions (Fourth Round)

CONMEBOL

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

. The fifth ranked team would have to play-off against the best team from

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

, with the winner of this play-off also qualifying. For the first time,

, the defending champion, was required to go through qualification and was not automatically qualified for the tournament.

Final positions

OFC

12 teams took part, competing for a place in the intercontinental play-off against the fifth-placed team from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. The winner of this play-off qualified for the World Cup.

Final positions (Second Round)

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

Australia and the Solomon Islands progressed to the final stage.

UEFA

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.

, 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 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

, 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. As some groups had seven teams and others had six, 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.

Play-offs

Poland and Sweden qualified directly to the World Cup. The other teams had to play in the playoffs. A draw was held on 14 October 2005 at FIFA headquarters in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

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

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

CONMEBOL v OFC

Withdrawals

* * *

Did not enter

* * * * * * * *

Excluded

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

Top goalscorers

;14 goals *

Jared Borgetti Jared Francisco Borgetti Echavarría (; born 14 August 1973) is a Mexican former professional Association football, footballer who currently works as a commentator for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Latin America, ESPN Mexico. As a player, Borgetti wa ...

;12 goals * Stern John ;11 goals *

Jaime Lozano Jaime Arturo "Jimmy" Lozano Espín (born 29 September 1978) is a Mexican professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Lozano spent the majority of his playing career with Club Universidad Nacional, playing in ...

Pauleta Pedro Miguel Carreiro Resendes (born 28 April 1973), known as Pauleta (), is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a striker. During 18 years as a senior he never played in the Primeira Liga, having spent 12 of those cam ...

Emmanuel Adebayor Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor (; born 26 February 1984) is a Togolese professional footballer who plays as a striker for Togolese Championnat National club Semassi. He previously played for English clubs Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Ho ...

;10 goals *

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...

* Carlos Ruiz ;9 goals * Didier Drogba *

Jan Koller Jan Koller (; born 30 March 1973) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was noted for his height, strong physique, and heading ability. He began his career at Sparta Prague, then moved to Belgium, where he becam ...

Ali Daei Ali Daei ( fa, ; born 21 March 1969) is an Iranian football manager and former player. A striker, he was the captain of the Iranian national team between 2000 and 2006 and played in the German Bundesliga for Arminia Bielefeld, Bayern Munich ...

Francisco Fonseca José Francisco "Kikin" Fonseca Guzmán (born 2 October 1979) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a striker. He currently works as a football analyst for Televisa Deportes Network. Club career Born in León, Guanajuato, ...

;8 goals *

Paulo Wanchope Paulo César Wanchope Watson (; born 31 July 1976), more commonly known as Paulo Wanchope, is a Costa Rican football coach and former professional footballer As a player he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Derby Cou ...

Alexei Eremenko Alexei Eremenko (born Aleksei Alekseyevich Yeryomenko; russian: Алексей Алексеевич Ерёменко; born 24 March 1983) is a former professional footballer. He is from a footballing family, with his father, Alexei Eremenko Sr. ...

Obafemi Martins Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins (born 28 October 1984) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is known for his speed on the ball. After leaving Nigeria for Italy at age 16, he has since played for a number of top-d ...

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...

References

External links

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
at RSSSF.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2006 Fifa World Cup Qualification

Qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

FIFA World Cup qualification