The knockout stage was the second and final stage of 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 ...

, following the group stage. The top two teams from each group (16 in total) advance to the knockout stage to compete in a

single-elimination 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 ...

style tournament. A match was played between the two losing teams of the semi-finals to determine which team finished in third place. ''All times local ( CEST/UTC+2)''

Qualified teams

The top two placed teams from each of the eight groups qualified for the knockout stage.

Bracket

Round of 16

Germany vs Sweden

Germany progressed thanks to two goals from

Lukas Podolski Lukas Josef Podolski (; born Łukasz Józef Podolski, , on 4 June 1985) is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze. Known for his powerful and accurate left foot, he is known for his explosive ...

inside the opening 12 minutes. His first was in the fourth minute; German captain

Michael Ballack Michael Ballack (; born 26 September 1976) is a German former professional footballer. He is among the top goal scorers in the history of the German national team. Ballack wore the number 13 shirt for every team he has played for, except 1. FC ...

sent a pass to

Miroslav Klose Miroslav Josef Klose (, pl, Mirosław Józef Klose; born 9 June 1978 as Mirosław Marian Klose) is a German professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Austrian Bundesliga club Rheindorf Altach. A striker, Klose ...

, who was tackled by goalkeeper

Andreas Isaksson Jan Andreas Isaksson (; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Isaksson began his career at local Trelleborgs FF, before briefly representing Juventus. He would later return to Sweden, where ...

, only for an onrushing Podolski to turn the ball in. Eight minutes later, a pass from Klose found Podolski, who scored his second goal. On 35 minutes, Teddy Lučić received a second yellow card for a foul on Klose. In the 52nd minute, Henrik Larsson won a penalty for Sweden when he was challenged by

Christoph Metzelder Christoph Tobias Metzelder (born 5 November 1980) is a German former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Most of his professional career, which was spent mostly at Borussia Dortmund, was blighted by injuries. He did manage, how ...

, only for Larsson himself to shoot the ball over the crossbar. Germany held out for a 2–0 win.

Argentina vs Mexico

England vs Ecuador

Portugal vs Netherlands

Italy vs Australia

Switzerland vs Ukraine

Despite their early elimination, Switzerland became the first team in the history of the FIFA World Cup to leave an edition of the tournament without conceding a single goal.

Brazil vs Ghana

Spain vs France

Quarter-finals

Germany vs Argentina

Italy vs Ukraine

England vs Portugal

Brazil vs France

Defending world champions Brazil went out in the quarter-finals after

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...

found an unmarked

Thierry Henry Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, and former player who is an assistant coach for the Belgium national team. Considered one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best player ...

from a free kick, the striker having been given a free run at the ball after his marker,

Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), commonly known as Roberto Carlos, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who now works as a football ambassador. He started his career in Brazil as a forward but spent most of his car ...

, stopped to tie his shoe.

Semi-finals

Germany vs Italy

Portugal vs France

Third place play-off

Final

Notes

References