2006 FIFA World Cup

The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th edition 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 finished third and Portugal fourth.

Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six continents participated in the qualification process which began in December 2003 to narrow the field down to the 32 teams which advanced to the finals tournament. Each national association had to confirm its 23-player squad in May 2006.

Tournament summary

Italy are Champions

The finals tournament of the 2006 World Cup began on June 9 2006 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 2006. In total, 64 games were played.

Tournament favorites and defending champions Brazil were knocked out, 1-0, by France in the quarterfinals, while Germany, runners-up from 2002, lost 2-0 to Italy in the semifinals in extra time.

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 and reached the final galvanized in part by the performance of its captain Zinedine Zidane who, playing in his final matches prior to his announced retirement, was honored with the Golden Ball award for best player.

On July 8 2006, Germany, the host nation, beat Portugal, 3-1, in Stuttgart for third place.

The tournament culminated in the World Cup Final, played in Berlin on July 9 2006, and which saw triumph over France on penalties after extra time.

Europe and South America 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 European side (Turkey) finished third, none of the quarterfinalists were from outside Europe or South America.

The Final

The final match started with each side scoring within the first 20 minutes. Both teams had chances for 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 went 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 stunning save in extra time when Zidane directed a powerful header on target. 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) to be decided on penalties.

Italy's World Cup championship did not rely on any one player in particular: Their 12 goals were scored by 10 different players. The famed Italian defense, organized by captain Fabio Cannavaro, greatly contributed to the team's win.

The most discussed moment of 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 words are unknown, but Zidane alleges they insulted his family. Materazzi denied his words were racist.

With an investigation underway, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has indicated that Zidane could be stripped of the Golden Ball award.

Awards

In addition to Zidane's Golden ball, the Silver and Bronze Ball awards went to Italy teammates Cannavaro and Andrea Pirlo, respectively, with teammate Buffon winning the award for best goalkeeper. Germany striker Miroslav Klose won the Golden Shoe award as the tournament's top goalscorer, with teammate Lukas Podolski winning the Best Young Player award.

Flood 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, perhaps the most controversial figures of this World Cup. Some observers also noted that the number of goals dropped after the Group Stage as the teams seemed to play more for security.

Post-mortem

The tournament once again proved that European teams dominate on European soil, while South American teams dominate on non-European soil, a law 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, many counted Germany as one of the winners of this World Cup for organizing such a smooth tournament. The stadia and transportation systems were fantastic, 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. Germany also benefited by the sudden increase in nationalist spirit with unprecedented flag waving whenever the German team played.

Venues

Twelve cities were selected to host World Cup finals matches.

City	Original stadium names	World Cup 2006 stadium names 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).	Host club(s)	Map Please note that the links to location maps are linked to an external site.	Capacity Seated capacity. Some stadiums have greater capacity for German league games due to standing room.
Berlin	Olympiastadion	Olympiastadion	Hertha BSC Berlin	Map	74,176
Dortmund	Signal Iduna Park	FIFA World Cup Stadium, Dortmund	Borussia Dortmund		67,000
Frankfurt	Commerzbank-Arena	FIFA World Cup Stadium, Frankfurt	Eintracht Frankfurt		48,132
Gelsenkirchen	Veltins-Arena	FIFA World Cup Stadium, Gelsenkirchen	FC Schalke 04	Map	53,804
Hamburg	AOL Arena	FIFA World Cup Stadium, Hamburg	Hamburger SV	Map	51,055
Hanover (Hannover)	AWD-Arena	FIFA World Cup Stadium, Hanover	Hannover 96	Map	44,652
Kaiserslautern	Fritz-Walter-Stadion	Fritz-Walter-Stadion	1. FC Kaiserslautern	Map	43,450
Cologne (Köln)	RheinEnergieStadion	FIFA World Cup Stadium, Cologne	1. FC Köln	Map	46,120
Leipzig	Zentralstadion	Zentralstadion	FC Sachsen Leipzig	Map	44,199
Munich (München)	Allianz Arena	FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich	Bayern München, TSV 1860 München	Map	66,016
Nuremberg (Nürnberg)	EasyCredit-Stadion	Frankenstadion	1. FC Nürnberg	Map	41,926
Stuttgart	Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion	Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion	VfB Stuttgart	Map	54,267

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.

Pot A	Pot B	Pot C	Pot D	Special Pot

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.

Point system

The first stage, 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. There were 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.

The ranking of each team in each group was determined as follows, in order of priority:

Greatest number of points obtained in all three group matches;
Goal difference in all three group matches;
Greatest number of goals scored in all three group matches.
1. If any two teams could not be separated by criteria 1–3;
  1. Team that won the match between the two teams in the tie;
2. If three teams could not be separated by criteria 1–3;
  1. Greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the three teams in the tie;
  2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the three teams in the tie;
  3. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the three teams in the tie;
Drawing of lots by the Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup.

These tie-breaking criteria were changed from an older version of the rules. As of June 20 2006, with the group stage in progress, older versions of the rules were still available on FIFA and UEFA websites, causing some confusion among those trying to identify the correct criteria.

In the event, only two ties actually occurred (in Groups C and H), both decided on criterion 2: goal difference in all three group matches. In addition, because the teams involved in the ties drew with each other, the older set of tie-breaking criteria would have produced the same tie-breaking results for these two ties.

Group stage results

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)

In the game results, goal scorers are listed below their country name with the time in minutes into the game that it was scored. A + sign indicates that the goal occurred during stoppage time. The teams placed first and second (shaded in green) qualified to the Round of 16.

Group A

Pts	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD
9	3	3		8	2	+6
6	3	2	1	5	3	+2
3	3	1	2	2	4	−2
0	3		3	3	9	−6

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

Group B

Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
7	3	2	1		5	2	+3
5	3	1	2		3	2	+1
3	3	1		2	2	2	0
1	3		1	2		4	−4

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) |score = 1–0|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = Gamarra 3' (OG) |goals2 = |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Frankfurt, Frankfurt
Attendance: 48,000
Referee: Rodríguez (Mexico)}}

|score = 0–0|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = |goals2 = |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Dortmund, Dortmund
Attendance: 62,959
Referee: Maidin (Singapore)}}

|score = 2–0|report= (Report) | team2 = |goals1 = Crouch 83'
Gerrard 91+' |goals2 = |stadium = Frankenstadion, Nuremberg
Attendance: 41,000
Referee: Kamikawa (Japan)}}

|score = 1–0 | report= (Report)| team2 = |goals1 = Ljungberg 89' |goals2 = |stadium = Olympiastadion, Berlin
Attendance: 72,000
Referee: Micheľ (Slovakia)}}

| score = 2–2 | report= (Report) | team2 = |goals1 = Allbäck 51'
Larsson 90' |goals2 = Cole 34'
Gerrard 85' |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Köln, Cologne
Attendance: 45,000
Referee: Busacca (Switzerland) }}

| score =2–0 | report= (Report) | team2 = |goals1 = Sancho 25' (OG)
Cuevas 86'|goals2 = |stadium = Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern
Attendance: 46,000
Referee: Rosetti (Italy)}}

Group C

Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
7	3	2	1		8	1	+7
7	3	2	1		3	1	+2
3	3	1		2	5	6	−1
0	3			3	2	10	−8

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) |score = 2–1|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = Crespo 24'
Saviola 38' |goals2 = Drogba 82' |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Hamburg, Hamburg
Attendance: 49,480
Referee: De Bleeckere (Belgium)}}

|score = 0–1|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = |goals2 = Robben 18' |stadium = Zentralstadion, Leipzig
Attendance: 37,216
Referee: Merk (Germany)}}

| team2 = | score = 6–0 | report= (Report) |goals1 = Rodríguez 6', 41'
Cambiasso 31'
Crespo 78'
Tévez 84'
Messi 88' |goals2 = |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Rosetti (Italy)}}

|team2 = | score = 2–1 | report= (Report) |goals1 = van Persie 23'
van Nistelrooy 27' |goals2 = Koné 39' |stadium = Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Ruíz (Colombia)}}

|team2 = | score = 0–0 |report=(Report)|goals1=|goals2=|stadium =FIFA WM Stadion Frankfurt, Frankfurt
Attendance: 48,000
Referee: Medina (Spain)}}

|team2 = | score = 3–2 | report=(Report)|goals1=Dindane 37' (pen), 67'
Kalou 86' (pen)|goals2=Žigić 10'
Ilić 20'|stadium =FIFA WM Stadion München, Munich
Attendance: 66,000
Referee: Rodríguez (Mexico)}}

Group D

Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
9	3	3			5	1	+4
4	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1
2	3		2	1	1	2	−1
1	3		1	2	2	6	−4

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) |score = 3–1|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = Bravo 28', 76'
Zinha 79' |goals2 = Golmohammadi 36' |stadium = Frankenstadion, Nuremberg
Attendance: 41,000
Referee: Rosetti (Italy)}}

|score = 0–1|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = |goals2 = Pauleta 4' |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Cologne, Cologne
Attendance: 45,000
Referee: Larrionda (Uruguay)}}

|score = 0–0| report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = |goals2 = |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Hannover, Hanover
Attendance: 43,000
Referee: Maidin (Singapore)}}

|score = 2–0| report = (Report) | team2 = |goals1 = Deco 63'
Ronaldo 80' (pen) |goals2 = |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Frankfurt, Frankfurt
Attendance: 48,000
Referee: Poulat (France)}}

|score = 2–1| report = (Report) | team2 = |goals1 = Maniche 6'
Simão 24' (pen) |goals2 = Fonseca 29'|stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Micheľ (Slovakia)}}

|score = 1–1| report = (Report) | team2 = |goals1 = Bakhtiarizadeh 75' |goals2 = Flávio 60'|stadium = Zentralstadion, Leipzig
Attendance: 38,000
Referee: Shield (Australia)}}

Group E

Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
7	3	2	1		5	1	+4
6	3	2		1	4	3	+1
3	3	1		2	3	4	−1
1	3		1	2	2	6	−4

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) |score = 0–3|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = |goals2 = Koller 5'
Rosický 36', 76'|stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Amarilla (Paraguay)}}

|score = 2–0|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1= Pirlo 40'
Iaquinta 83'|goals2 = |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Hannover, Hanover
Attendance: 43,000
Referee: Simon (Brazil)}}

|score=0–2|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1=|goals2 =Gyan 2'
Muntari 82'|stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Köln, Cologne
Attendance: 45,000
Referee: Elizondo (Argentina)}}

|goals1=Nihat 22' |score = 1–1|report= (Report) |team2 = ||goals1 = Gilardino 22' | goals2= Zaccardo 27' (OG) |stadium = Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern
Attendance: 46,000
Referee: Larrionda (Uruguay)}}

|score=0–2|report= (Report)|team2 = |goals1= |goals2=Materazzi 26'
Inzaghi 87' |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Hamburg, Hamburg
Attendance: 50,000
Referee: Archundia (Mexico)}}

|score = 2–1|report= (Report)||team2 = ||goals1 =Draman 22'
Appiah 47+' (pen) || goals2= Dempsey 43'|stadium = Frankenstadion, Nuremberg
Attendance: 41,000
Referee: Merk (Germany)}}

Group F

Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
9	3	3			7	1	+6
4	3	1	1	1	5	5	0
2	3		2	1	2	3	−1
1	3		1	2	2	7	−5

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) |score = 3–1|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = Cahill 84', 89'
Aloisi 92+' |goals2 =Nakamura 26' |stadium = Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern
Attendance: 46,000
Referee: Abd El Fatah (Egypt)}}

|score = 1–0|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1= Kaká 44'|goals2 = |stadium = Olympiastadion, Berlin
Attendance: 72,000
Referee: Archundia (Mexico)}}

|score = 0–0 |report=(Report) |team2 = |goals1= |goals2 = |stadium = Frankenstadion, Nuremberg
Attendance: 41,000
Referee: De Bleeckere (Belgium)}}

|score= 2–0 |report=(Report) |team2 = |goals1 = Adriano 49'
Fred 90'
|goals2 = |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion München, Munich
Attendance: 66,000
Referee: Merk (Germany)}}

|score= 1–4 |report= (Report)|team2 = |goals1 =Tamada 34' |goals2 =Ronaldo 46+', 81'
Juninho 53'
Gilberto 59' |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Dortmund, Dortmund
Attendance: 65,000
Referee: Poulat (France)}}

|score= 2–2 |report=(Report) |team2 = |goals1 = Srna 2'
N. Kovač 56'
|goals2 = Moore 38' (pen)
Kewell 79' |stadium = Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Poll (England)}}

Group G

Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
7	3	2	1		4		+4
5	3	1	2		3	1	+2
4	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1
0	3			3	1	6	−5

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) |score = 2–1|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = Lee Chun-Soo 54'
Ahn Jung-Hwan 72' |goals2 = Kader 31' |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Frankfurt, Frankfurt
Attendance: 48,000
Referee: Poll (England)}}

|score = 0–0|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = |goals2 = |stadium = Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Ivanov (Russia)}}

|score = 1–1|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = Henry 9' |goals2 = Park Ji-Sung 81' |stadium = Zentralstadion, Leipzig
Attendance: 43,000
Referee: Archundia (Mexico)}}

|score = 0–2|report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 = |goals2 = Frei 16'
Barnetta 88' |stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Dortmund, Dortmund
Attendance: 65,000
Referee: Amarilla (Paraguay)}}

|score = 0–2|report= (Report)|team2 = |goals1 = |goals2 = Vieira 55'
Henry 61'|stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Köln, Cologne
Attendance: 45,000
Referee: Larrionda (Uruguay)}}

| score = 2–0|report= (Report)|team2 = | goals1 = Senderos 23'
Frei 77'|goals2 = | stadium = FIFA WM Stadion Hannover, Hanover
Attendance: 43,000
Referee: Elizondo (Argentina)}}

Group H

Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
9	3	3			8	1	+7
6	3	2		1	5	4	+1
1	3		1	2	3	6	−3
1	3		1	2	2	7	−5

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

|score =3–1 | report= (Report) |team2 = |goals1 =Raúl 71'
Torres 76', 91+' (pen)| goals2 = Mnari 8'|stadium = Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Simon (Brazil)}}

|score =0–1 | report=(Report) |team2 = |goals1 = | goals2 = Juanito 36' |stadium = Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern
Attendance: 46,000
Referee: Codjia (Benin)}}

|score =1–0 | report=(Report) |team2 = |goals1 = Shevchenko 70' (pen) | goals2 = |stadium = Olympiastadion, Berlin
Attendance: 72,000
Referee: Amarilla (Paraguay)}}

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).

Awards

ITALY
Fourth Title

2006 World Cup Winners

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	&

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

Mastercard All Star Team

The Mastercard 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.

Gianluigi Buffon
Jens Lehmann
Ricardo Pereira
Roberto Ayala
John Terry
Lilian Thuram
Philipp Lahm
Fabio Cannavaro
Gianluca Zambrotta
Ricardo Carvalho
Zé Roberto
Patrick Vieira
Zinédine Zidane
Michael Ballack
Andrea Pirlo
Gennaro Gattuso
Francesco Totti
Luís Figo
Maniche
Hernan Crespo
Thierry Henry
Miroslav Klose
Luca Toni

Goalkeepers	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards

Goal 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). An additional 21 goals were scored in penalty shootouts, but these are not counted.

5 goals

Miroslav Klose

3 goals

2 goals

Own goals

1 goal

References and footnotes

External links

2006 FIFA World Cup | 2006 in football (soccer) | FIFA World Cup tournaments | Sports festivals hosted in Germany

Gourt Home::Gourt :: 2006 FIFA World Cup

Tournament summary

Italy are Champions

Europe and South America dominate

The Final

Awards

Flood of cards

Post-mortem

Venues

Groups

Seeds

Point system

Group stage results

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Knockout stage

Bracket

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Third place play-off

Final

Awards

Mastercard All Star Team

Goal scorers

See also

References and footnotes

External links