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The 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group 9 was a UEFA qualifying group for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The group comprised Albania, England, Finland, Germany and Greece.

The group was won by England, who qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The runners-up, Germany — who would later reach the final of the tournament proper — entered the UEFA Qualification Playoffs.

England started the qualification process badly, a home defeat to Germany and an away draw with Finland (soon after a poor team performance at the 2000 European Championships) saw the resignation of their manager Kevin Keegan, and the appointment of Sven-Göran Eriksson – the first non-Englishman to be given the job – in his place. With the new manager, they picked themselves up and won five in a row, while the Germans themselves unexpectedly faltered: also drawing with Finland away from home, they also lost their home match with England by a resounding 5–1. Finland, in fact, might have been in with a chance of qualification themselves, but they lost a match to the unfancied Greece, whom England had to play in their final match, while Finland played Germany at the same time, with England and Germany guaranteed the top two places and separated only by goal difference. Greece unexpectedly took the lead twice at Old Trafford, but England captain David Beckham scored an injury-time free kick to level the game. Germany could only manage a 0–0 draw against Finland, meaning England topped the group on goal difference.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	8	5	2	1	16	6	+10	17	Qualification to 2002 FIFA World Cup		—	0–1	2–1	2–2	2–0
2	Germany	8	5	2	1	14	10	+4	17	Advance to UEFA play-offs		1–5	—	0–0	2–0	2–1
3	Finland	8	3	3	2	12	7	+5	12			0–0	2–2	—	5–1	2–1
4	Greece	8	2	1	5	7	17	−10	7			0–2	2–4	1–0	—	1–0
5	Albania	8	1	0	7	5	14	−9	3			1–3	0–2	0–2	2–0	—

Matches

Finland	2–1	Albania
Litmanen 45' Riihilahti 68'	Report	Murati 64'

Germany	2–0	Greece
Deisler 17' Scholl 75'	Report

England	0–1	Germany
	Report	Hamann 14'

Greece	1–0	Finland
Liberopoulos 59'	Report

Albania	2–0	Greece
Bushi 48' Fakaj 90'	Report

Finland	0–0	England
	Report

England	2–1	Finland
Owen 44' Beckham 50'	Report	Riihilahti 26'

Germany	2–1	Albania
Deisler 49' Klose 87'	Report	Kola 65'

Albania	1–3	England
Rraklli 90+2'	Report	Owen 74' Scholes 85' Andy Cole 90+6'

Greece	2–4	Germany
Charisteas 20' Georgiadis 43'	Report	Rehmer 6' Ballack 25' (pen.) Klose 82' Bode 90'

Finland	2–2	Germany
Forssell 28', 43'	Report	Ballack 69' (pen.) Jancker 73'

Greece	1–0	Albania
Machlas 70'	Report

Albania	0–2	Germany
	Report	Rehmer 27' Ballack 68'

Greece	0–2	England
	Report	Scholes 63' Beckham 87'

Albania	0–2	Finland
	Report	Tainio 55' Kuqi 90+3'

Germany	1–5	England
Jancker 6'	Report	Owen 12', 48', 65' Gerrard 45+3' Heskey 73'

Finland	5–1	Greece
Forssell 14', 45' Riihilahti 21' Kolkka 38' Litmanen 53'	Report	Karagounis 30'

England	2–0	Albania
Owen 43' Fowler 88'	Report

England	2–2	Greece
Sheringham 68' Beckham 90+3'	Report	Charisteas 36' Nikolaidis 69'

Germany	0–0	Finland
	Report

Goalscorers

There were 54 goals scored in 20 matches, for an average of 2.7 goals per match.

6 goals

• Michael Owen

4 goals

• Mikael Forssell

3 goals

• David Beckham
• Aki Riihilahti
• Michael Ballack

2 goals

• Paul Scholes
• Jari Litmanen
• Sebastian Deisler
• Carsten Jancker
• Miroslav Klose
• Marko Rehmer
• Angelos Charisteas

1 goal

• Alban Bushi
• Ervin Fakaj
• Bledar Kola
• Edvin Murati
• Altin Rraklli
• Andy Cole
• Robbie Fowler
• Steven Gerrard
• Emile Heskey
• Teddy Sheringham
• Joonas Kolkka
• Shefki Kuqi
• Teemu Tainio
• Marco Bode
• Dietmar Hamann
• Mehmet Scholl
• Georgios Georgiadis
• Georgios Karagounis
• Nikos Liberopoulos
• Nikos Machlas
• Themistoklis Nikolaidis

References

1. "Germans left in trauma after trial by television". Guardian. 8 October 2001. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
2. "FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) 2002, football - table and standings". soccer365.me. Retrieved 19 April 2024.

External links

• FIFA official page
• RSSSF - 2002 World Cup Qualification
• Allworldcup

• 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)
• 2000–01 in English football
• England at the 2002 FIFA World Cup
• 2000–01 in German football
• Germany at the 2002 FIFA World Cup
• 2000–01 in Greek football
• 2001–02 in Greek football
• 2000–01 in Albanian football
• 2001–02 in Albanian football
• 2000 in Finnish football
• 2001 in Finnish football