2006 FIFA World Cup – Germany

2006 FIFA World Cup – Germany

Winning bids from South Africa, England and Morocco, Germany was chosen to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

For the first time the defending champions would not have its place reserved. They would have to go through the qualification stage. And the Golden Goal rule was abolished by FIFA, after its trial during the past years. From now on, games that went to extra time would be played like before 1998, 2 full periods of 15 minutes each.

A total of 198 teams entered the tournament qualification. The 32 places would be allocated as follow: 1 for the hosts, 13 to UEFA (including Israel), 4 to CONMEBOL, 4 to AFC, 3 to CONCACAF and 5 to CAF. One of the last 2 places would be contested by the 5th from CONMEBOL vs. and the winner of OFC. The other would be contested by the 5th from AFC vs. the 4th from CONCACAF.

There was a record of yellow and red cards: 345 yellow cards and 28 red cards. This prompt a lot of discussion about the tournament’s referees, with FIFA receiving a lot of criticism for making rule to rigid and taking discretion away from the referees.

The final was Italy vs. France. Italy was trying to win their fourth title, while France was trying to win its second. Both teams scored once during the first half of the game and the final score was 1-1. With no goals scored during extra time, the match was decided with a penalty shoot-out. After 24 years the Italian team won the championship again, becoming the second team to win 4 titles.

List of qualified teams: Angola, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Iran, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Montenegro, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Ukraine, United States.

Champions: Italy
2nd place: France
3rd place: Germany

Top scorer player: Miroslav Klose – 5 goals
Top scorer team: Germany, 14 goals

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