2006 FIFA World Cup qualification

In the qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup started with the preliminary draw held in Zurich in December 2003, 197 teams from the six FIFA confederations were allocated a share of the 31 spots available on the basis of the strength of their teams. The final distribution was as follows:

* Europe - represented by UEFA : 51 teams competing for 13 places (Germany qualified automatically as host nation for a total of 14 places)
* Africa - the CAF : 51 teams, 5 places
* South America - CONMEBOL : 10 teams, 4.5 places
* Asia - the AFC : 39 teams, 4.5 places
* North, Central American and Caribbean - CONCACAF : 34 teams, 3.5 places
* Oceania - the OFC : 12 teams, 0.5 places (not guaranteed a position).

Each .5 indicates a place in inter-confederation matchups for the last two spots, namely playoffs between AFC and CONCACAF and between CONMEBOL and OFC.

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).

Notes on qualification

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; 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

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 2005.::Ghana wins their group with the South Africa-Congo DR 2-2 draw on 8 October 2005.::Cote d'Ivoire clinched their berth with the Cameroon-Egypt 1-1 draw, on 8 October 2005.::Angola qualified for the 2006 World Cup with a 1-0 win over Rwanda on 8 October 2005.::Tunisia qualified on 8 October 2005 with a 2-2 tie against Morocco.

Group standings of the Final Round:

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." On September 3, 2005, Uzbekistan won the first game 1-0, but FIFA decided that the match was to be declared void and ordered a replay following a refereeing blunder.

The playoffs were postponed to October 8, 2005 in Uzbekistan and October 12, 2005 in Bahrain. The first leg ended in a 1-1 draw, and the 2nd leg match was a 0-0 draw. Bahrain, having scored one away goal to Uzbekistan's zero, advanced to the playoff. Trinidad and Tobago defeated Bahrain, 2-1 aggregate, to advance to the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

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, 2005 with a 5-0 win over Panama.::Costa Rica clinched the final automatic berth on October 8, 2005 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, 2005. They subsequently won the playoff on November 16, 2005 on aggregate 2-1, clinching a 2006 berth. They are in "bold italics".

Group standings of the Final Round:

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:

*The six second-place teams from Europe that did not automatically qualify were drawn into three playoff matches. Full details of these playoffs can be found at 2006 FIFA World Cup - European Qualification Playoffs.

*Australia won the Oceania-South America Qualification Playoff penalty shootout 4-2 after both games were won 1:0 by the home team. Full details of this playoff can be found at 2006 FIFA World Cup - Oceania-South America Qualification Playoff.

*Trinidad and Tobago won the Asia-CONCACAF Qualification Playoff with an aggregate score of 2-1. Full details of this playoff can be found at 2006 FIFA World Cup - Asia-CONCACAF Qualification Playoff.

ummary

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

* Europe (UEFA)
**fb|NOR vs fb|CZE "(aggregate score 0-2)"
**fb|ESP vs fb|SVK "(aggregate score 6-2)"
**fb|SUI vs fb|TUR "(aggregate score 4-4, Switzerland won on away goals)"

:(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.)

* Oceania (OFC) vs South America (CONMEBOL)
**fb|URU vs fb|AUS "(aggregate score 1-1, Australia won penalty shootout 4-2)"

* Asia (AFC) vs North America, Central America & Caribbean (CONCACAF)
**fb|TRI vs fb|BHR "(aggregate score 2-1)"

Withdrawals

*fb|Central African Republic
*fb|Guam
*fb|Nepal

Did not enter

*fb|COM
*fb|TLS
*fb|DJI
*fb|PUR
*fb|BRU
*fb|PHI
*fb|BHU
*fb|MYA
*fb|CAM

External links

* [http://www.rsssf.com/tables/2006q.html Archive of World Cup 2006 Qualifying at RSSSF]