World Cup Germany 2006

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World Cup Germany 2006

The 2006 World Cup was held in Germany. The tournament was the 18th edition of the FIFA World Cup.

Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six populated continents participated in the qualification process which began in September 2003. Thirty-one teams qualified from this process, along with the host nation, Germany, for the finals tournament.

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


World Cup 2006 Groups

GROUP A

• Germany
• Ecuador
• Poland
• Costa Rica

GROUP B

• England
• Sweden
• Paraguay
• Trinidad and Tobago

GROUP C

• Argentina
• Netherlands
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Serbia and Montenegro

GROUP D

• Portugal
• Mexico
• Angola
• Iran

GROUP E

• Italy
• Ghana
• Czech Republic
• United States

GROUP F

• Brazil
• Australia
• Croatia
• Japan

GROUP G

• Switzerland
• France
• Korea Republic
• Togo

GROUP H

• Spain
• Ukraine
• Tunisia
• Saudi Arabia

The tournament was won by Italy, who claimed their fourth World Cup title. They defeated France 5–3 in a penalty shootout in the final, after extra time had finished in a 1–1 draw. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 to finish third.

The World Cup 2006 stands as one of the most watched events in television history, garnering an estimated 26.29 billion non-unique viewers, compiled over the course of the tournament.


World Cup 2006 Information

• Teams: 32
• When: 09 June 2006 to 09 July 2006
• Final: 09 July 2006
• Matches: 64
• Goals Scored: 147 (average 2.3 per match)
• Attendance: 3.359.439
• Winner: Italy
• Runners-Up: France
• Third: Germany
• Fourth: Portugal
• Adidas Golden Ball: Zinedine Zidane (France)
• Adidas Golden Shoe: Miroslav Klose (Germany)
• Yashin Award for the Best Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy)
• Best Young Player Award: Lukas PODOLSKI (Germany)
• FIFA Fair Play award: Spain and Brazil
• FIFA Award for the Most Entertaining Team: Portugal