Football World Cup 2006: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The 2006 Football World Cup is scheduled to take place in Germany, after a tense vote. It was widely expected that the tournament would take place in Africa, probably South Africa, but various backroom politics delivered hosting the Cup to Germany.

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) will compete in a single group. Qualification itself began in January 2004.

There has been some interest in the allocation of places in the finals to the various football confederations. Initially, the Oceania Football Confederation was allocated one place in the finals. With the confederation containing only Australia, New Zealand, and a number of tiny island nations, Australia was widely regarded as having been gifted virtual automatic qualification. South America's confederation, by contrast, was allocated only 4 places, down from 4.5 (4 guaranteed and one playoff spot against the Oceania regional qualifier) last time, despite the onfield strength of South American football. North America gained an extra half a place, whilst Europe lost half a place. In June 2003 the FIFA board reversed its decision and reduced Oceania's allotment to half a place and gave back South America's half spot.

For the first time in the history of the World Cup (after the first event in 1930), the defending champion (Brazil) does not qualify automatically. The hosts (Germany) will retain their automatic spot.

Qualification Groups

European Zone

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
1. Czech Republic	1. Turkey	1. Portugal	1. France
2. Netherlands	2. Denmark	2. Russia	2. Republic of Ireland
3. Romania	3. Greece	3. Slovakia	3. Switzerland
4. Finland	4. Ukraine	4. Latvia	4. Israel
5. FYR Macedonia	5. Georgia	5. Estonia	5. Cyprus
6. Armenia	6. Albania	6. Liechtenstein	6. Faroe Islands
7. Andorra	7. Kazakhstan	7. Luxembourg
Group 5	Group 6	Group 7	Group 8
1. Italy	1. England	1. Spain	1. Sweden
2. Slovenia	2. Poland	2. Belgium	2. Croatia
3. Scotland	3. Austria	3. Serbia and Montenegro	3. Bulgaria
4. Norway	4. Wales	4. Bosnia-Herzegovina	4. Iceland
5. Belarus	5. Northern Ireland	5. Lithuania	5. Hungary
6. Moldova	6. Azerbaijan	6. San Marino	6. Malta

Played as a league system on a home-and-away basis, 3 groups of 7, and 5 groups of 6 teams. The 8 group winners and the two best runners-up qualify for the 2006 World Cup Finals, the remaining 6 runners-up will be drawn against each other for 3 play-off matches on a home-and-away basis to determine the other 3 qualifiers.

South American Zone

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 will play-off against the winner of the Oceania zone.

African Zone

First stage

The first stage was played as a cup system on a home-and-away basis in October and November 2003, involving 42 teams. The 21 winners advanced to the second stage.

Second stage

The second stage will be played as a league system on a home-and-away basis in 5 groups of 6 teams. The 5 group winners qualify for the 2006 World Cup Finals.

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5
1.  Senegal	1.  South Africa	1.  Cameroon	1.  Nigeria	1.  Tunisia
2.  Mali	2.  Congo DR	2.  Egypt	2.  Zimbabwe	2.  Morocco
3.  Zambia	3.  Burkina Faso	3.  Côte d'Ivoire	3.  Algeria	3.  Kenya
4.  Togo	4.  Ghana	4.  Libya	4.  Angola	4.  Guinea
5.  Liberia	5.  Uganda	5.  Sudan	5.  Gabon	5.  Malawi
6.  Congo	6.  Cape Verde	6.  Benin	6.  Rwanda	6.  Botswana

Oceanian Zone

First stage

The first stage was played as a league system involving 2 groups of 5 teams in 2 tournaments held at 2 different venues. The winner and runner-up of each group advanced to the second stage.

Group 1	Group 2
1.  Tahiti	1.  Fiji
2.  Solomon Islands	2.  Vanuatu
3.  New Caledonia	3.  Papua New Guinea
4.  Tonga	4.  Samoa
5.  Cook Islands	5.  American Samoa

Second stage

The second stage was played as a league system involving 1 group of 6 teams (the winners and runners-up of the first stage groups, plus Australia and New Zealand) in one tournament taking place at 1 venue. The winner (Australia) and runner-up (Solomon Islands) advance to the third stage.

Third stage

Australia and Solomon Islands will play-off on a home-and-away basis, and the winner will then play-off against the fifth placed team from South America for a place in the 2006 World Cup Finals.

Asian Zone

First stage

The first stage was played in late November/early December 2003 as a cup system on a home-and-away basis involving the 14 lowest-ranked teams. The seven winners advanced to the second stage.

Second stage

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
1.  Iran	1.  Uzbekistan	1.  Japan	1.  PR China
2.  Qatar	2.  Iraq	2.  Oman	2.  Kuwait
3.  Jordan	3. Palestine	3.  India	3.  Malaysia
4.  Laos	4.  Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)	4.  Singapore	4.  Hong Kong
Group 5	Group 6	Group 7	Group 8
1.  United Arab Emirates	1.  Bahrain	1.  South Korea	1.  Saudi Arabia
2.  Thailand	2.  Syria	2.  Lebanon	2.  Indonesia
3.  Yemen	3.  Kyrgyzstan	3.  Vietnam	3.  Turkmenistan
4.  North Korea	4.  Tajikistan	4.  Maldives	4.  Sri Lanka

Played as a league system on a home-and-away basis, 8 groups of 4 teams. The 8 group winners advance to the third stage.

Third stage

Played on a league system on a home-and-away basis in 2 groups of 4 teams. The two group winners and two runners-up qualify for the 2006 World Cup Finals. The third-placed teams from each group will play each other on a home-and-away basis, with the winner of this play-off playing against the 4th-placed team from the North, Central American and Caribbean Zone for the last place in the finals.

North, Central American and Caribbean Zone

First stage

This is played as a cup system on a home-and-away basis involving 10 groups of 3 teams and 2 groups of 2 teams. The 12 group winners advance to the second stage.

• Group 1
  • United States 6-2 (3-0, 3-2) Grenada
• Group 2
  • El Salvador 4-3 (2-1, 2-2) Bermuda
• Group 3
  • Jamaica 4-1 (1-1, 3-0) Haiti
• Group 4
  • Panama 7-0 (4-0, 3-0) St Lucia
• Group 5
  • Cuba 3-3 (2-2, 1-1) Costa Rica (Costa Rica win on away goals rule).
• Group 6
  • Guatemala 4-2 (1-1, 3-1) Suriname
• Group 7
  • Honduras 6-2 (2-1, 4-0) Netherlands Antilles
• Group 8
  • Canada 8-0 (4-0, 4-0) Belize
• Group 9
  • Mexico 18-0 (10-0, 8-0) Dominica
• Group 10
  • St Kitts and Nevis 5-2 (2-0, 3-2) Barbados.
• Group 11
  • Trinidad and Tobago 6-0 (2-0, 4-0) Dominican Republic
• Group 12
  • St Vincent and the Grenadines 6-3 (2-2, 4-1) Nicaragua

Second stage

The second stage will be played as a league system on a home-and-away basis involving 3 groups of 4 teams. The three group winners and the three runners-up qualify for the third stage.

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3
1.  United States	1.  Costa Rica	1.  Mexico
2.  El Salvador	2.  Guatemala	2.  St. Kitts and Nevis
3.  Jamaica	3.  Honduras	3.  Trinidad and Tobago
4.  Panama	4.  Canada	4.  St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Third stage

This will be played on a league system on a home-and-away basis involving 6 teams. The top 3 teams qualify for the 2006 World Cup Finals, the 4th team plays-off against the representative from the Asian Zone.