FIFA World Cup 2006 Champions, matches, fact and achievements

FIFA World Cup 2006 was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. Germany was selected as the host in July 2000. The qualification process, which started in September 2003, saw participation from 198 national football associations across all six populated continents. Out of these, 31 teams qualified to join host nation Germany in the finals. This event marked the second time Germany hosted the competition, but the first time as a unified country including the former East Germany, with Leipzig as one of the host cities. Previously, West Germany hosted the World Cup in 1974. This was also the 10th time the tournament was held in Europe.

Champions	Runners- Up	Third Place	Fourth Place
Italy (4th title)	France	Germany	Portugal

Golden Ball Winner	Golden Boot Winner	FIFA Fair Play Trophy
Zinedine Zidane	Miroslav Klose	Brazil Spain

Best young player: Lukas Podolski

Yashin Award (Best goalkeeper): Gianluigi Buffon

Most Entertaining Team: Portugal

FIFA World Cup 2006 Group stage
Group A

Position	Team	Played	Win	Draw	Loss	GF	GA	GD	Points
1. Qualified	Germany (Host)	3	3	0	0	8	2	+6	9
2. Qualified	Ecuador	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
3	Poland	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	3
4	Costa Rica	3	0	0	3	3	9	−6	0

Position	Team	Played	Win	Draw	Loss	GF	GA	GD	Points
1. Qualified	England	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7
2. Qualified	Sweden	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
3	Paraguay	3	1	0	2	2	2	0	3
4	Trinidad and Tobago	3	0	1	2	0	4	−4	1

Position	Team	Played	Win	Draw	Loss	GF	GA	GD	Points
1. Qualified	Argentina	3	2	1	0	8	1	+7	7
2. Qualified	Netherlands	3	2	1	0	3	1	+2	7
3	Ivory Coast	3	1	0	2	5	6	−1	3
4	Serbia and Montenegro	3	0	0	3	2	10	−8	0

Position	Team	Played	Win	Draw	Loss	GF	GA	GD	Points
1. Qualified	Portugal	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9
2. Qualified	Mexico	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
3	Angola	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2
4	Iran	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

Position	Team	Played	Win	Draw	Loss	GF	GA	GD	Points
1. Qualified	Italy	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7
2. Qualified	Ghana	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
3	Czech Republic	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
4	United States	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

Position	Team	Played	Win	Draw	Loss	GF	GA	GD	Points
1. Qualified	Brazil	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9
2. Qualified	Australia	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
3	Croatia	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
4	Japan	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

Position	Team	Played	Win	Draw	Loss	GF	GA	GD	Points
1. Qualified	Switzerland	3	2	1	0	4	0	+4	7
2. Qualified	France	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2	5
3	South Korea	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4
4	Togo	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0

Position	Team	Played	Win	Draw	Loss	GF	GA	GD	Points
1. Qualified	Spain	3	3	0	0	8	1	+7	9
2. Qualified	Ukraine	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1	6
3	Tunisia	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3	1
4	Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

FIFA World Cup 2006 Round of 16

Date	Team 1	Result	Team 2
24 June 2006	Germany	2–0	Sweden
24 June 2006	Argentina	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Mexico
25 June 2006	England	1–0	Ecuador
25 June 2006	Portugal	1–0	Netherlands
26 June 2006	Italy	1–0	Australia
26 June 2006	Switzerland	0–0 (a.e.t.) 0–3 (Penalties)	Ukraine
27 June 2006	Brazil	3–0	Ghana
27 June 2006	Spain	1–3	France

FIFA World Cup 2006 Quarter finals

Date	Team 1	Result	Team 2
30 June 2006	Germany	1–1 (a.e.t.) 4–2 (penalties)	Argentina
30 June 2006	Italy	3–0	Ukraine
1 July 2006	England	0–0 (a.e.t.) 1–3 (penalties)	Portugal
1 July 2006	Brazil	0–1	France

FIFA World Cup 2006 semi finals
4 July 2006 21:00, Westfalenstadion, Dortmund

Germany	0 – 2 (a.e.t.)	Italy
		Fabio Grosso 119′ Del Piero 120+1

5 July 2006 21:00, Allianz Arena, Munich

Portugal	0 – 1	France
		Zidane 33′ (pen.)

Third place play-off
8 July 2006 21:00, Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart

Germany	3 – 1	Portugal
Schweinsteiger 56′, 78′ Petit 60′ (o.g.)		Nuno Gomes 88′

FIFA World Cup 2006 final match
9 July 2006 20:00, Olympiastadion, Berlin

Italy	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	France
Materazzi 19′		Zidane 7′ (pen.)
Pirlo Materazzi De Rossi Del Piero Grosso	Penalties 5 – 3	Wiltord Trezeguet Abidal Sagnol

FIFA World Cup 2006  top goal scores

Rank	Player Name	Country	Goals
1	Miroslav Klose	Germany	5
2	Ronaldo	Brazil	3
3	Hernán Crespo	Argentina	3
4	Maxi Rodríguez	Argentina	3
5	Thierry Henry	France	3
6	Zinedine Zidane	France	3
7	Lukas Podolski	Germany	3
8	Fernando Torres	Spain	3
9	David Villa	Spain	3

Most assist provider list

Rank	Player Name	Country	Assist
1	Francesco Totti	Italy	4
2	Riquelme	Argentina	4
3	Schweinsteiger	Germany	3
4	Andrea Pirlo	Italy	3
5	Luis Figo	Portugal	3

All-star team

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

FIFA World Cup 2006 Summary
Italy won the 2006 FIFA World Cup, securing their fourth title by defeating France 5–3 in a penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw in extra time. Germany claimed third place by beating Portugal 3–1. The tournament saw the debut appearances of Angola, Ukraine, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Trinidad and Tobago, and Togo. It was also the only appearance for Serbia and Montenegro under that name, as they had previously competed as Yugoslavia in 1998. Just before the tournament, Montenegro voted for independence from Serbia in a May 2006 referendum, with Serbia recognizing the results in early June. Due to time constraints, FIFA had Serbia and Montenegro compete as one team, marking the first time multiple sovereign nations played as a single team in a major football event since UEFA Euro 1992.
Brazil, the defending champions, were eliminated by France in the quarter-finals.
The 2006 World Cup became one of the most-watched events in television history, with an estimated total viewership of 26.29 billion across the tournament. The final alone attracted an audience of approximately 715.1 million people.

Qualification
A total of 198 teams sought to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Host nation Germany was automatically granted a spot, while the remaining 31 places were allocated among the continental confederations. Europe (UEFA) contested 13 places, Africa (CAF) five, South America (CONMEBOL) four, Asia (AFC) four, and North and Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) three. The final two spots were determined by playoffs between teams from AFC and CONCACAF and between CONMEBOL and Oceania (OFC).

Venues