FIFA World Cup 2006
The 18th World Cup tournament was awarded to Germany in July 2000. For the first time the reigning champions had to go through the qualifying competition: 13 places were available for Europe, five for Africa, four each for Asia (AFC) and South America (CONMEBOL) and three for North/Central America (CONCACEF). The two remaining places were decided by play-offs between AFC and CONCACEF and between CONMEBOL and Oceania (OFC).
The Golden Goal rule was dropped and in the knock out stage, extra-time was played if scores were level after 90 minutes followed by penalties if required.
Twelve stadia were used and because of FIFA's rules on sponsorship, many were renamed (as FIFA Weltmeisterschaft Stadion xxx) and existing sponsors' logos removed.
Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H | Knock Out Stages
2002 | World Cup Index | 2010