Uefa 2006 Fifa World Cup Qualification

A total of 51 teams took part, divided in 8 groups – five groups of six teams each and three groups of seven teams each – competing for 13 places in the World Cup. Germany, the hosts, were already qualified, for a total of 14 European places in the tournament. The qualifying process started on 18 August 2004, over a month after the end of UEFA Euro 2004, and ended on 16 November 2005. Kazakhstan, which transitioned from the Asian Football Confederation to UEFA after the end of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, debuted in the European qualifiers.

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

Tournament details
Dates	18 August 2004 – 16 November 2005
Teams	51 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	282
Goals scored	778 (2.76 per match)
Attendance	5,739,074 (20,351 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Pauleta (11 goals)
← 2002 2010 →

The teams in each group would play against each other in a home and away basis. The team with the most points in each group qualified to the World Cup. The runners up are ranked. For fairness rules, results against the seventh placed team were ignored, in groups of seven teams. The two best ranked runners-up also qualified to the World Cup. The other six runners-up were drawn into three two-legged knock out matches, the playoff winners also qualifying.

The race to join hosts Germany at the 2006 FIFA World Cup featured an unlikely winner in Europe, where Ukraine became the first team to qualify, having finished above Turkey, Denmark and Greece in arguably the continent's toughest qualifying group.

France had its first successful World Cup qualifying campaign in twenty years as they had missed the 1990 and 1994 tournaments, then qualified automatically as hosts in 1998 and as defending champions in 2002.

Serbia and Montenegro and Croatia also advanced to Germany at the head of their sections, the former forcing Spain into the playoffs in the process. Besides the eight group winners, two teams progressed automatically as best runners up, namely Poland and Sweden while the playoffs offered a second chance to six others.

The draw was made on 5 December 2003 in Frankfurt, Germany. Germany qualified automatically as hosts. The other seedings were determined by points per game in the qualifiers for 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification and UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying. France qualified automatically for the 2002 FIFA World Cup as title holders, so only their record in UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying was used. Portugal qualified automatically for UEFA Euro 2004 as hosts, so only their record in World Cup 2002 was used. Kazakhstan were not ranked by this system as they did not participate in either competition.^{[citation needed]}

For domestic clubs involved in international club competitions reasons, England, France, Italy and Spain were drawn into groups of 6 teams.

Pot A Team Coeff Rank   France 3,00 1   Portugal 2,40 2   Sweden 2,39 3   Czech Republic 2,31 4   Spain 2,31 5   Italy 2,31 6   England 2,31 7   Turkey 2,22 8	Pot B Team Coeff Rank   Netherlands 2,17 9   Croatia 2,12 10   Belgium 2,06 11   Denmark 2,05 12   Russia 2,05 13   Republic of Ireland 1,94 14   Slovenia 1,89 15   Poland 1,89 16	Pot C Team Coeff Rank   Bulgaria 1,89 17   Romania 1,87 18   Scotland 1,81 19   Serbia and Montenegro 1,72 20    Switzerland 1,61 21   Greece 1,56 22   Slovakia 1,50 23   Austria 1,50 24
Pot D Team Coeff Rank   Ukraine 1,50 25   Iceland 1,44 26   Finland 1,37 27   Norway 1,33 28   Israel 1,31 29   Bosnia and Herzegovina 1,31 30   Latvia 1,25 31   Wales 1,22 32	Pot E Team Coeff Rank   Hungary 1,19 33   Georgia 1,06 34   Belarus 1,00 35   Cyprus 0,89 36   Estonia 0,89 37   Northern Ireland 0,78 38   Lithuania 0,75 39   Macedonia 0,75 40	Pot F Team Coeff Rank   Albania 0,69 41   Armenia 0,67 42   Moldova 0,67 43   Azerbaijan 0,50 44   Faroe Islands 0,44 45   Malta 0,11 46   San Marino 0,06 47   Liechtenstein 0,06 48
Pot G Team Coeff Rank   Andorra 0,00 49   Luxembourg 0,00 50   Kazakhstan 0,00 51

Summary

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6	Group 7	Group 8
Netherlands	Ukraine	Portugal	France	Italy	England	Serbia and Montenegro	Croatia
Czech Republic	Turkey	Slovakia	Switzerland	Norway	Poland	Spain	Sweden
Romania   Finland   Macedonia   Armenia   Andorra	Denmark   Greece   Albania   Georgia   Kazakhstan	Russia   Estonia   Latvia   Liechtenstein   Luxembourg	Israel   Republic of Ireland   Cyprus   Faroe Islands	Scotland   Slovenia   Belarus   Moldova	Austria   Northern Ireland   Wales   Azerbaijan	Bosnia and Herzegovina   Belgium   Lithuania   San Marino	Bulgaria   Hungary   Iceland   Malta

Groups

The first round is group play. A win is awarded 3 point, a draw 1 point and a loss 0. The winner of a group is the team with the most points.

Group 1

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands	12	10	2	0	27	3	+24	32	Qualification to 2006 FIFA World Cup		—	2–0	2–0	3–1	0–0	2–0	4–0
2	Czech Republic	12	9	0	3	35	12	+23	27	Advance to second round		0–2	—	1–0	4–3	6–1	4–1	8–1
3	Romania	12	8	1	3	20	10	+10	25			0–2	2–0	—	2–1	2–1	3–0	2–0
4	Finland	12	5	1	6	21	19	+2	16			0–4	0–3	0–1	—	5–1	3–1	3–0
5	Macedonia	12	2	3	7	11	24	−13	9			2–2	0–2	1–2	0–3	—	3–0	0–0
6	Armenia	12	2	1	9	9	25	−16	7			0–1	0–3	1–1	0–2	1–2	—	2–1
7	Andorra	12	1	2	9	4	34	−30	5			0–3	0–4	1–5	0–0	1–0	0–3	—

Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ukraine	12	7	4	1	18	7	+11	25	Qualification to 2006 FIFA World Cup		—	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–2	2–0	2–0
2	Turkey	12	6	5	1	23	9	+14	23	Advance to second round		0–3	—	2–2	0–0	2–0	1–1	4–0
3	Denmark	12	6	4	2	24	12	+12	22			1–1	1–1	—	1–0	3–1	6–1	3–0
4	Greece	12	6	3	3	15	9	+6	21			0–1	0–0	2–1	—	2–0	1–0	3–1
5	Albania	12	4	1	7	11	20	−9	13			0–2	0–1	0–2	2–1	—	3–2	2–1
6	Georgia	12	2	4	6	14	25	−11	10			1–1	2–5	2–2	1–3	2–0	—	0–0
7	Kazakhstan	12	0	1	11	6	29	−23	1			1–2	0–6	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–2	—

Group 3

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	12	9	3	0	35	5	+30	30	Qualification to 2006 FIFA World Cup		—	2–0	7–1	4–0	3–0	2–1	6–0
2	Slovakia	12	6	5	1	24	8	+16	23	Advance to second round		1–1	—	0–0	1–0	4–1	7–0	3–1
3	Russia	12	6	5	1	23	12	+11	23			0–0	1–1	—	4–0	2–0	2–0	5–1
4	Estonia	12	5	2	5	16	17	−1	17			0–1	1–2	1–1	—	2–1	2–0	4–0
5	Latvia	12	4	3	5	18	21	−3	15			0–2	1–1	1–1	2–2	—	1–0	4–0
6	Liechtenstein	12	2	2	8	13	23	−10	8			2–2	0–0	1–2	1–2	1–3	—	3–0
7	Luxembourg	12	0	0	12	5	48	−43	0			0–5	0–4	0–4	0–2	3–4	0–4	—

Group 4

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	10	5	5	0	14	2	+12	20	Qualification to 2006 FIFA World Cup		—	0–0	0–0	0–0	4–0	3–0
2	Switzerland	10	4	6	0	18	7	+11	18	Advance to second round		1–1	—	1–1	1–1	1–0	6–0
3	Israel	10	4	6	0	15	10	+5	18			1–1	2–2	—	1–1	2–1	2–1
4	Republic of Ireland	10	4	5	1	12	5	+7	17			0–1	0–0	2–2	—	3–0	2–0
5	Cyprus	10	1	1	8	8	20	−12	4			0–2	1–3	1–2	0–1	—	2–2
6	Faroe Islands	10	0	1	9	4	27	−23	1			0–2	1–3	0–2	0–2	0–3	—

Group 5

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	10	7	2	1	17	8	+9	23	Qualification to 2006 FIFA World Cup		—	2–1	2–0	1–0	4–3	2–1
2	Norway	10	5	3	2	12	7	+5	18	Advance to second round		0–0	—	1–2	3–0	1–1	1–0
3	Scotland	10	3	4	3	9	7	+2	13			1–1	0–1	—	0–0	0–1	2–0
4	Slovenia	10	3	3	4	10	13	−3	12			1–0	2–3	0–3	—	1–1	3–0
5	Belarus	10	2	4	4	12	14	−2	10			1–4	0–1	0–0	1–1	—	4–0
6	Moldova	10	1	2	7	5	16	−11	5			0–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	2–0	—

Group 6

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	10	8	1	1	17	5	+12	25	Qualification to 2006 FIFA World Cup		—	2–1	1–0	4–0	2–0	2–0
2	Poland	10	8	0	2	27	9	+18	24			1–2	—	3–2	1–0	1–0	8–0
3	Austria	10	4	3	3	15	12	+3	15			2–2	1–3	—	2–0	1–0	2–0
4	Northern Ireland	10	2	3	5	10	18	−8	9			1–0	0–3	3–3	—	2–3	2–0
5	Wales	10	2	2	6	10	15	−5	8			0–1	2–3	0–2	2–2	—	2–0
6	Azerbaijan	10	0	3	7	1	21	−20	3			0–1	0–3	0–0	0–0	1–1	—

Group 7

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Serbia and Montenegro	10	6	4	0	16	1	+15	22	Qualification to 2006 FIFA World Cup		—	0–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	5–0
2	Spain	10	5	5	0	19	3	+16	20	Advance to second round		1–1	—	1–1	2–0	1–0	5–0
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10	4	4	2	12	9	+3	16			0–0	1–1	—	1–0	1–1	3–0
4	Belgium	10	3	3	4	16	11	+5	12			0–2	0–2	4–1	—	1–1	8–0
5	Lithuania	10	2	4	4	8	9	−1	10			0–2	0–0	0–1	1–1	—	4–0
6	San Marino	10	0	0	10	2	40	−38	0			0–3	0–6	1–3	1–2	0–1	—

Group 8

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	10	7	3	0	21	5	+16	24	Qualification to 2006 FIFA World Cup		—	1–0	2–2	3–0	4–0	3–0
2	Sweden	10	8	0	2	30	4	+26	24			0–1	—	3–0	3–0	3–1	6–0
3	Bulgaria	10	4	3	3	17	17	0	15			1–3	0–3	—	2–0	3–2	4–1
4	Hungary	10	4	2	4	13	14	−1	14			0–0	0–1	1–1	—	3–2	4–0
5	Iceland	10	1	1	8	14	27	−13	4			1–3	1–4	1–3	2–3	—	4–1
6	Malta	10	0	3	7	4	32	−28	3			1–1	0–7	1–1	0–2	0–0	—

Ranking of runners-up

Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	8	Sweden	10	8	0	2	30	4	+26	24	Qualification to 2006 FIFA World Cup
2	6	Poland	10	8	0	2	27	9	+18	24
3	1	Czech Republic	10	7	0	3	23	11	+12	21	Advance to second round (play-offs)
4	7	Spain	10	5	5	0	19	3	+16	20
5	4	Switzerland	10	4	6	0	18	7	+11	18
6	5	Norway	10	5	3	2	12	7	+5	18
7	3	Slovakia	10	4	5	1	17	7	+10	17
8	2	Turkey	10	4	5	1	13	9	+4	17

Matches

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Spain	6–2	Slovakia	5–1	1–1
Switzerland	4–4 (a)	Turkey	2–0	2–4
Norway	0–2	Czech Republic	0–1	0–1

The following 14 teams from UEFA qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
Germany	Hosts	6 July 2000	15 (1934, 1938, 19542, 19582, 19622, 19662, 19702, 19742, 19782, 19822, 19862, 19902, 1994, 1998, 2002)
Netherlands	Group 1 winners	8 October 2005	7 (1934, 1938, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1994, 1998)
Ukraine	Group 2 winners	3 September 2005	0 (debut)
Portugal	Group 3 winners	8 October 2005	3 (1966, 1986, 2002)
France	Group 4 winners	12 October 2005	11 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2002)
Italy	Group 5 winners	8 October 2005	15 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002)
England	Group 6 winners	8 October 2005	11 (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998, 2002)
Serbia and Montenegro	Group 7 winners	12 October 2005	9 (19303, 19503, 19543, 19583, 19623, 19743, 19823, 19903, 19983)
Croatia	Group 8 winners	8 October 2005	2 (1998, 2002)
Poland	Top 2 runners-up	8 October 2005	6 (1938, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 2002)
Sweden	Top 2 runners-up	8 October 2005	10 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1958, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1994, 2002)
Spain	Play-off winners	16 November 2005	11 (1934, 1950, 1962, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002)
Switzerland	Play-off winners	16 November 2005	7 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1994)
Czech Republic	Play-off winners	16 November 2005	8 (19344, 19384, 19544, 19584, 19624, 19704, 19824, 19904)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
² Competed as West Germany. A separate team for East Germany also participated in qualifications during this time, having only competed in 1974.
³ From 1930 to 1998, Serbia and Montenegro competed as Yugoslavia.
⁴ From 1934 to 1990, Czech Republic competed as Czechoslovakia.

There were 778 goals scored in 282 matches, for an average of 2.76 goals per match.

11 goals

9 goals

8 goals

7 goals

Below are full goalscorer lists for all groups and the play-off round: