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Template:Infobox Football World Cup

The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th staging of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international association football world championship tournament. It was held from June 9 2006 to July 9 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Italy won its fourth world championship, defeating France 5–3 in a penalty shootout after extra time finished in a 1–1 draw. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 to finish third.

Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six continents participated in the qualification process which began in December 2003. 32 teams qualified from this process for the final tournament.

Qualification

198 teams attempted to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Hosts Germany were granted automatic qualification; the remaining 31 finals places were divided by continental confederation. 13 places were contested by UEFA teams (Europe), 5 by CAF teams (Africa), 4 by CONMEBOL teams (South America), 4 by AFC teams (Asia). and 3 by CONCACAF teams (North and Central America and Caribbean). The remaining two places were decided by playoffs between AFC and CONCACAF and between CONMEBOL and OFC (Oceania).

Seven nations qualified for the finals for the first time: Angola, Côte d'Ivoire, Czech Republic, Ghana, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago and Ukraine. Czech Republic and Ukraine were making their first appearance as independent nations, but had previously been represented as part of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union respectively.

Finals tournament

Italians are Champions

The finals tournament of the 2006 World Cup began on June 9 with a group stage for which the 32 teams were divided into eight groups of four teams each. Within each group, the teams competed in a round-robin tournament to determine which two of those four teams would advance to the 16-team knockout stage, which started on June 24. In total, 64 games were played.

France overcame a slow start in the group stage, relying heavily on a strong defensive effort to advance. They gained momentum in the knockout stage, knocking out tournament favourites and defending champions Brazil 1–0 in the quarter finals. They reached the final galvanized in part by the performance of captain Zinedine Zidane who, playing in his last matches before retirement, was honored with the Golden Ball award for best player.

Italy progressed with a stellar defense and a balanced attack — they only conceded two goals (an own goal and a penalty) throughout, and finished the tournament with ten different players accounting for their twelve goals. A close call came against Australia in the Round of 16, in which Italy prevailed after Francesco Totti converted a controversial penalty deep into stoppage time, giving Italy a 1–0 win. Subsequently their 2–0 semifinal win over Germany, runners-up from 2002 and host country, was earned in dramatic fashion. Although Germany had never previously lost a match in Dortmund, Italy handed them their first defeat there, continuing their World Cup dominance over the Germans with two quick goals by Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero moments before the end of extra time.

The tournament culminated in the Final played in Berlin on July 9 2006, which saw Italy, led by coach Marcello Lippi, triumph over France on penalties after extra time, winning the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 24 years, and collecting their fourth title. Germany, beat Portugal, 3–1, the previous day in Stuttgart for third place.

Traditional powers dominate

Despite early success by Australia, Ecuador and Ghana, the tournament marked a return to dominance of the traditional football powers. Four years after a 2002 tournament in which teams from North America (United States), Africa (Senegal), and Asia (South Korea) made runs deep into the knockout stages and a relatively unheralded UEFA side (Turkey) finished third, all eight seeded teams progressed to the knockout stages, and none of the quarterfinalists were from outside Europe or South America. Six former champion teams and 2004 Euro runners-up Portugal were all still around in the quarterfinal round, with Ukraine as the only relative outsiders.

Final

The final match started with each side scoring within the first 20 minutes. Zinedine Zidane opened the scoring with a controversial penalty, and Marco Materazzi levelled the scores from an Andrea Pirlo corner. Both teams had chances to score a winning goal: Luca Toni hit the crossbar for Italy; an Italian goal was disallowed for an offside; France was not granted a second penalty in the 53rd minute when Florent Malouda was taken down in the box.

After the regulation 90 minutes, the score was level at 1–1, forcing extra time to be played. Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon made a potentially game saving stop in extra time when he pushed a Zidane header over the crossbar. The extra time proved goalless and a penalty shootout followed, which Italy won 5–3. It was the first all-European final since Italy won the 1982 FIFA World Cup, and the second final (1994 was first, with Italy's loss) to be decided on penalties.

An unusual incident in the match was Zidane's angry reaction to comments made by Italian defender Marco Materazzi. Near the end of extra time, Zidane headbutted Materazzi in the chest in an off-the-ball incident. Referee Horacio Elizondo did not see the confrontation, but sent Zidane off based on the intervention of the fourth official Luis Medina Cantalejo. Materazzi's exact words are not publicly known. Zidane alleged they were insults to his family, and FIFA concluded they were not of a racist nature. Both players received fines and suspensions for their actions.

Awards

In addition to Zidane's Golden Ball, Italians Fabio Cannavaro and Andrea Pirlo were awarded the Silver and Bronze Balls, with teammate Buffon winning the Lev Yashin award for best goalkeeper. Germany striker Miroslav Klose won the Golden Shoe award as the tournament's top goalscorer, with fellow German striker Lukas Podolski winning the Best Young Player award.

Unprecedented number of cards

In comparison to earlier World Cups, the tournament was notable for the number of yellow and red cards given out. Players received a record-breaking 345 yellow cards and 28 red cards, with the match between Portugal and the Netherlands accounting for 16 and 4, respectively, by itself. The high number of yellow and red cards shown also prompted discussion about the referees, and some observers also noted that the number of goals dropped after the Group Stage as the teams seemed to play more for security. FIFA Officials and President Sepp Blatter received criticism for allegedly making rules too rigid and taking discretion away from referees.

The tournament also saw English referee Graham Poll give 3 yellow cards to one Croatian player in their match against Australia. It was the first time this had happened in a World Cup match.

Analysis

The tournament once again proved that European teams dominate on European soil, while South American teams dominate on non-European soil, a trend broken only once with Brazil's win at the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden.

Although the host nation failed to repeat its 2002 trip to the final match, some counted Germany as one of the winners of this World Cup for organizing such a smooth tournament. The stadia and transportation systems were state-of-the-art, and the German people were constantly lauded for their hospitality and enthusiasm. One big innovation, which South Africa has already declared it will emulate, were the Fan Fests where millions of people watched the matches of the world cup in public viewing areas. Germany also experienced a sudden increase in patriotic spirit with unprecedented flag waving whenever the German team played.

In terms of on-the-pitch activities, despite the early goals that flooded the group stages, the knockout phase could not live up to the expectations provided by the group matches, with instead players such as Fabio Cannavaro of Italy and Lilian Thuram of France starring in more defense orientated matches.

Venues

Twelve cities were selected to host World Cup finals matches.

Squads

Squads for the 2006 World Cup consisted of 23 players, same as the previous edition in 2002. Each national association had to confirm its 23-player squad in May 2006.

Groups

Seeds

The eight seeded teams for the 2006 cup were announced on December 5, 2005. The seeds comprised Pot A in the draw. Pot B contained the unseeded qualifiers from South America, Africa and Oceania; Pot C contained eight of the nine remaining European sides, excluding Serbia and Montenegro. Pot D contained unseeded sides from the CONCACAF region and Asia. A special pot contained Serbia and Montenegro: this was done to ensure that no group contained three European teams. In the special pot, Serbia and Montenegro (white ball) was drawn first, then their group was drawn (black ball) from the three seeded non-European nations, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.

It had been predetermined that as hosts, Germany would be placed in Group A, thus being assured of the venues of their group matches in advance of the draw. FIFA had also announced in advance that Brazil (the defending champions) would be allocated to Group F.

On December 9, 2005 the draw was held and the group assignments and order of fixtures were determined. After the draw was completed, many football commentators remarked that group C appeared to be the group of death in the World Cup, although in actuality, the group was among the first to be settled; Argentina and the Netherlands both qualified with a game to spare with comfortable wins over Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Serbia and Montenegro respectively.

Group system

The first round, or group stage, saw the thirty-two teams divided into eight groups of four teams. Each group was a round-robin of six games, where each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same group. Teams were awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a defeat. The teams coming first and second in each group qualified for the second round.

Ranking criteria

If teams were level on points, they were ranked on the following criteria in order:

1. Greatest total goal difference in the three group matches
2. Greatest number of goals scored in the three group matches
3. If teams remained level after those criteria, a mini-group would be formed from those teams, who would be ranked on:
   1. Most points earned in matches against other teams in the tie
   2. Greatest goal difference in matches against other teams in the tie
   3. Greatest number of goals scored in matches against other teams in the tie
   4. If teams remained level after all these criteria, FIFA would hold a drawing of lots

In the original version of the rules for the final tournament, the ranking criteria were in a different order, with head-to-head results taking precedence over total goal difference. The rules were changed to the above in advance of the tournament, but older versions were still available on the FIFA and UEFA websites, causing some confusion among those trying to identify the correct criteria.

In any event, the final tournament saw only two pairs of teams level on points: Argentina and The Netherlands at 7 points in Group C; Tunisia and Saudi Arabia at 1 point in Group H. Both of these ties were resolved on total goal difference. Also, in both cases the teams had tied their match, so the order of ranking criteria made no difference.

First round

In the following tables:

• Pts = total points accumulated
• Pld = total games played
• W = total games won
• D = total games drawn (tied)
• L = total games lost
• GF = total goals scored (goals for)
• GA = total goals conceded (goals against)
• GD = goal difference (GF−GA)

The teams placed first and second (shaded in green) qualified to the Round of 16. Full results and goalscorers are available in the article for each group.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Knockout stage

The knockout stage was a single-elimination tournament involving the sixteen teams that qualified from the group stage of the tournament. There were four rounds of matches, with each round eliminating half of the teams entering that round. The successive rounds were: Round of 16, Quarter-finals, Semi-finals, Final. There was also a play-off to decide third/fourth place. For each game in the knockout stage, a draw was followed by thirty minutes of extra time (two fifteen minute halves); if scores were still level there would be a penalty shootout (at least five penalties each, and more if necessary) to determine who progressed to the next round. Scores after extra time are indicated by (AET), and penalty shoot outs are indicated by (PSO).

Bracket

Template:Round16ext

Round of 16

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) .

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Quarter-finals

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Template:Penshootoutbox

Template:Penshootoutbox

Semi-finals

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Third place play-off

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Final

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Template:Penshootoutbox

Awards

2006 World Cup Winners
Italy Fourth Title

Golden Shoe Winner	Golden Ball Winner	Yashin Award	Best Young Player	FIFA Fair Play Trophy	Most Entertaining Team
Miroslav Klose	Zinedine Zidane	Gianluigi Buffon	Lukas Podolski	Template:BRAf & Template:ESPf	Template:PORf

FIFA's Technical Study Group (TSG) also granted a Man of the Match award to one player in each match.

All star team

The "all star team" is a squad consisting of the 23 most impressive players at the 2006 World Cup, as selected by FIFA's Technical Study Group. The team was chosen from a shortlist of over 50 players, and was selected based on performances through the second round.

Scorers

Miroslav Klose received the Golden Shoe Award for scoring five goals in the World Cup. This was the lowest number of goals scored by a tournament's top goalscorer since six players tied on four goals each in 1962. In total, 147 goals were scored (four of which were own goals).

See also

• 2006 FIFA World Cup:

• Broadcasting rights
• Controversies
• Crime concerns
• Disciplinary record
• Full team rankings
• Miscellany
• Officials
• Qualification
• Seeding
• Sponsorship
• Squads
• FIFA World Cup records

• Teamgeist
• WAGs
• Template:Wikitravel

References and footnotes

1. Peake, Alex (2006-07-11). "Sick taunt that riled ZZ". The Sun. Retrieved 2006-07-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. "Who's to blame for Cup card frenzy?". The BBC. 2006-06-26. Retrieved 2006-07-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. "Even in losing, Germany a winner". The Miami Herald. 2006-07-10. Retrieved 2006-07-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. "South African to learn lessons from Germany". The 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. 2006-07-09. Retrieved 2006-07-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. During the World Cup, many of the stadiums were known by different names, as FIFA prohibits sponsorship of stadiums unless the stadium sponsors were also official FIFA sponsors. For example, Allianz Arena was known during the competition as "FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich" (or in German: "FIFA WM-Stadion München"). On the Allianz Arena in Munich even the letters of the company Allianz were removed or covered. These new names are reflected in the table. Some of the stadiums also have a lower capacity for the World Cup, as FIFA regulations ban standing room. Of the twelve hosting stadiums, only Zentralstadion in Leipzig is on the area of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
6. Please note that the links to location maps are linked to an external site.
7. Seated capacity. Some stadiums have greater capacity for German league games due to standing room.
8. Wilson, Paul (2005-12-11). "An easy group? Draw your own conclusions". The Observer. Retrieved 2006-06-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. Palmer, Kevin (2006-05-24). "Group C Tactics Board". Retrieved 2006-06-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. O'Dea, Joseph (2006-05-18). "FIFA changes World Cup tie-breaking rules". Retrieved 2006-06-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. Associated Press (July 7, 2006). "France, Italy dominate World Cup all-star squad". CBC. Retrieved 2006-08-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

Official sites

• Official FIFA World Cup site
• Organizing Committee Site
• 2006 World Cup Fan Guide

Other sites

• Official World Cup Charity (confirmation at FIFA website)
• BBC 2006 World Cup coverage
• ESPN 2006 World Cup coverage
• USATODAY 2006 World Cup Bracket
• The New York Times 2006 World Cup Flash

Template:Fb start

v t e International association football
FIFA Federations Teams Competitions World Rankings The Best FIFA Football Awards Timeline
World (FIFA)	FIFA World Cup U-20 U-17 FIFA Confederations Cup FIFA Gold Cup Olympic Games Youth Olympic Games
Asia (AFC)	AFC Asian Cup U-23 U-20 U-17 AFC Challenge Cup AFC Solidarity Cup Asian Games Regional ASEAN CAFA EAFF SAFF WAFF Arabian Gulf Cup East Asian Games Far Eastern Games South Asian Games Southeast Asian Games West Asian Games
Africa (CAF)	CAF Africa Cup of Nations U-23 U-20 U-17 CAF African Nations Championship African Games Regional CECAFA COSAFA UNIFFAC WAFU Central African Games Indian Ocean Island Games
North America (CONCACAF)	CONCACAF Gold Cup U-23 U-20 U-17 U-15 CONCACAF Championship CONCACAF Nations League CONCACAF Cup NAFC Championship CCCF Championship Central America and Caribbean Games Regional North American Nations Cup Copa Centroamericana CFU Championship Caribbean Cup LIFA Cup WIFA Cup Central America Games
South America (CONMEBOL)	CONMEBOL Copa América U-23 U-20 U-17 U-15 South American Games Regional Bolivarian Games
Oceania (OFC)	OFC Nations Cup U-23 U-19 U-17 Regional Melanesia Cup Polynesia Cup Pacific Games Pacific Mini Games
Europe (UEFA)	UEFA European Championship U-21 U-19 U-17 UEFA Nations League Regional Central European Cup Balkan Cup Baltic Cup British Home Championship Nordic Championship
Inter-Continental	CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions CPF Panamerican Championship CAF-AFC Afro-Asian Cup of Nations AFC–OFC Challenge Cup FIFA Arab Cup Palestine Cup Kuneitra Cup Overseas Cup Afro-Asian Games Arab Games Francophone Games GANEFO Goodwill Games Islamic Games Islamic Solidarity Games Lusofonia Games Mediterranean Cup Mediterranean Games Pan American Games
Non-FIFA	CONIFA World Football Cup CONIFA European Football Cup CONIFA South America Football Cup CONIFA Africa Football Cup FIFI Wild Cup UIAFA Great European Tournament Island Games Micronesian Games Universiade World Unity Football Alliance
See also Geography Codes Player/Club of the Century Women's football

Template:Fb end

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