2006 Fifa World Cup

It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. 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 hosts Germany for the finals tournament. It was the second time that Germany staged the competition and the first as a unified country along with the former East Germany with Leipzig as a host city (the other was in 1974 in West Germany), and the 10th time that the tournament was held in Europe.

2006 FIFA World Cup

FIFA Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft Deutschland 2006
Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden (A time to make friends)
Tournament details
Host country	Germany
Dates	9 June – 9 July
Teams	32 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	12 (in 12 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Italy (4th title)
Runners-up	France
Third place	Germany
Fourth place	Portugal
Tournament statistics
Matches played	64
Goals scored	147 (2.3 per match)
Attendance	3,359,439 (52,491 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Miroslav Klose (5 goals)
Best player(s)	Zinedine Zidane
Best young player	Lukas Podolski
Best goalkeeper	Gianluigi Buffon
Fair play award	Brazil  Spain
← 2002 2010 →

Italy won the tournament, claiming their fourth World Cup title, defeating France 5–3 in a penalty shoot-out in the final after extra time had finished in a 1–1 draw. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 to finish in third place. Angola, Ukraine, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Trinidad and Tobago and Togo made their first appearances in the finals. It was also the only appearance of Serbia and Montenegro under that name; they had previously appeared in 1998 as Yugoslavia. In late May 2006, immediately prior to the tournament, Montenegro voted in a referendum to become an independent nation and dissolve the loose confederacy then existing between it and Serbia; Serbia recognised the results of the referendum in early June. Due to time constraints, FIFA had Serbia and Montenegro play in the World Cup tournament as one team, marking the first instance of multiple sovereign nations competing as one team in a major football tournament since UEFA Euro 1992.

The 2006 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in television history, garnering an estimated 26.29 billion times viewed compiled over the course of the tournament. The final attracted an estimated audience of 715.1 million people.

The vote to choose the hosts of the 2006 tournament was held in July 2000 in Zürich, Switzerland. It involved four bidding nations after Brazil had withdrawn three days earlier: Germany, South Africa, England and Morocco. Three rounds of voting were required, each round eliminating the nation with the fewest votes. The first two rounds were held on 6 July 2000, and the final round was held on 7 July 2000, which Germany won over South Africa.

Bribery and corruption allegations

Accusations of bribery and corruption had marred the success of Germany's bid from the very beginning. On the very day of the vote, a hoax bribery affair was made public, leading to calls for a re-vote. On the night before the vote, German satirical magazine Titanic sent letters to FIFA representatives, offering joke gifts like cuckoo clocks and Black Forest ham in exchange for their vote for Germany. Oceania delegate Charlie Dempsey, who had initially backed England, had then been instructed to support South Africa following England's elimination. He abstained, citing "intolerable pressure" on the eve of the vote. Had Dempsey voted as originally instructed, the vote would have resulted with a 12–12 tie, and FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who favoured the South African bid, would have had to cast the deciding vote.

More irregularities surfaced soon after, including, in the months leading up to the decision, the sudden interest of German politicians and major businesses in the four Asian countries whose delegates were decisive for the vote. Just a week before the vote, the German government under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder lifted their arms embargo on Saudi Arabia and agreed to send grenade launchers to the country. DaimlerChrysler invested several hundred million euros in Hyundai, where one of the sons of the company's founder was a member of FIFA's executive committee. Both Volkswagen and Bayer announced investments in Thailand and South Korea, whose respective delegates Worawi Makudi and Chung Mong-joon were possible voters for Germany. Makudi additionally received a payment by a company of German media mogul Leo Kirch, who also paid millions for usually worthless TV rights for friendly matches of the Germany team and FC Bayern Munich.

On 16 October 2015, German news magazine Der Spiegel alleged that a slush fund with money from then-Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus was used to influence the vote of four Asian members of the FIFA executive committee. The sum of €6.7 million was later demanded back by Dreyfus. In order to retrieve the money, the Organising Committee paid an equivalent sum to FIFA, allegedly as a German share for the cost of a closing ceremony, which never materialized. Wolfgang Niersbach, president of the German Football Association (DFB), denied the allegations on 17 October 2015, saying that "the World Cup was not bought" and that he could "absolutely and categorically rule out the existence of a slush fund". The DFB announced they would consider seeking legal action against Der Spiegel. During a press conference on 22 October 2015, Niersbach repeated his stance, emphasising that the €6.7 million was used in 2002 to secure a subsidy by FIFA. According to Niersbach, the payment had been agreed upon during a meeting between Franz Beckenbauer and FIFA president Blatter, with the money being provided by Dreyfus. On the same day, FIFA contradicted Niersbach's statement, saying: "By our current state of knowledge, no such payment of 10 million francs was registered by FIFA in 2002." The following day, former DFB president Theo Zwanziger publicly accused Niersbach of lying, saying: "It is evident that there was a slush fund for the German World Cup application". According to Zwanziger, the €6.7 million went to Mohamed Bin Hammam, who at the time was supporting Blatter's campaign for president against Issa Hayatou.

On 22 March 2016, it was announced that the FIFA Ethics Committee was opening proceedings into the bid.

198 teams attempted to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Germany, the host nation, was granted automatic qualification, with the remaining 31 finals places divided among the continental confederations. Thirteen places were contested by UEFA teams (Europe), five by CAF teams (Africa), four by CONMEBOL teams (South America), four by AFC teams (Asia), and three by CONCACAF teams (North and Central America and Caribbean). The remaining two places were decided by playoffs between AFC and CONCACAF and between CONMEBOL and OFC (Oceania).

Eight nations qualified for the finals for the first time: Angola, Czech Republic, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, and Serbia and Montenegro. Czech Republic and Ukraine were making their first appearance as independent nations, but had previously been represented as part of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union respectively; Serbia and Montenegro had competed as Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1998, as well as making up part of Yugoslav teams from 1930 to 1990. As of 2022, this was the last time Togo, Angola, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Trinidad and Tobago qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals, and the last time Uruguay failed to qualify.

Australia qualified for the first time since 1974. Among the teams who failed to qualify were 2002 third-placed team Turkey, quarter-finalists Senegal, Euro 2004 winners Greece and 2006 Africa Cup of Nations winners Egypt. Additionally, Belgium failed to qualify for the first time since 1978 and Cameroon failed to qualify for the first time since 1986. The other notable qualifying streaks broken were for Nigeria, who had made the previous three tournaments, and Denmark and South Africa, who had both qualified for the previous two. France had their first successful qualifying campaign since 1986, as they did not qualify for the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, in 1998 they were automatically qualified as hosts and in 2002 as defending champions.

For the first time since the 1982 World Cup, all six confederations were represented at the finals tournament.

The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro dissolved prior to the start of the World Cup, on 3 June 2006, with Serbia and Montenegro becoming independent countries; their team competed at the World Cup unaffected. Their involvement in the competition became similar to the Commonwealth of Independent States that appeared at UEFA Euro 1992, a team formed to take the Soviet Union's place following dissolution, that multiple sovereign states had been represented in the finals of a major footballing tournament by a single team and the only occurrence in the World Cup finals to date. The highest ranked team not to qualify was Denmark (ranked 11th), while the lowest ranked team that did qualify was Togo (ranked 61st).

List of qualified teams

The following 32 teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, qualified for the finals tournament:

AFC (4)   Iran (23)   Japan (18)   Saudi Arabia (34)   South Korea (29) CAF (5)   Angola (57)   Ghana (48)   Ivory Coast (32)   Togo (61)   Tunisia (21)

CONCACAF (4)   Costa Rica (26)   Mexico (4)   Trinidad and Tobago (47)   United States (5) CONMEBOL (4)   Argentina (9)   Brazil (1)   Ecuador (39)   Paraguay (33) OFC (1)   Australia (42)

UEFA (14)   Croatia (23)   Czech Republic (2)   England (10)   France (8)   Germany (19) (hosts)   Italy (13)   Netherlands (3)   Poland (29)   Portugal (7)   Serbia and Montenegro (44)   Spain (5)   Sweden (16)    Switzerland (35)   Ukraine (45)

Teams listed by FIFA ranking as of May 2006
	Country	Confederation	Rank
1	Brazil	CONMEBOL	1
2	Czech Republic	UEFA	2
3	Netherlands	UEFA	3
4	Mexico	CONCACAF	4
5	United States	CONCACAF	5
	Spain	UEFA	5
7	Portugal	UEFA	7
8	France	UEFA	8
9	Argentina	CONMEBOL	9
10	England	UEFA	10
11	Italy	UEFA	13
12	Sweden	UEFA	16
13	Japan	AFC	18
14	Germany	UEFA	19
15	Tunisia	CAF	21
16	Iran	AFC	23
	Croatia	UEFA	23
18	Costa Rica	CONCACAF	25
19	South Korea	AFC	29
	Poland	UEFA	29
21	Ivory Coast	CAF	32
22	Paraguay	CONMEBOL	33
23	Saudi Arabia	AFC	34
24	Switzerland	UEFA	35
25	Ecuador	CONMEBOL	39
26	Australia	OFC	42
27	Serbia and Montenegro	UEFA	44
28	Ukraine	UEFA	45
29	Trinidad and Tobago	CONCACAF	47
30	Ghana	CAF	48
31	Angola	CAF	57
32	Togo	CAF	61

In 2006, Germany had a plethora of football stadia that satisfied FIFA's minimum capacity of 40,000 seats for World Cup matches. The outdated and still-standing Olympiastadion in Munich (69,250), the venue for the 1974 final match was not used for the tournament, even though FIFA's regulations allow one city to use two stadia. Düsseldorf's LTU Arena (51,500), Bremen's Weserstadion (43,000) and Mönchengladbach's Borussia-Park (46,249) were also not used.

Twelve stadia were selected to host the World Cup matches. During the tournament, many of them were known by different names, as FIFA prohibits sponsorship of stadia unless the stadium sponsors are also official FIFA sponsors. For example, the Allianz Arena in Munich was known during the competition as FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich (German: FIFA WM-Stadion München), and even the letters of the company Allianz were removed or covered. Some of the stadia also had a lower capacity for the World Cup, as FIFA regulations ban standing room; nonetheless, this was accommodated as several stadia had a UEFA five-star ranking. The stadia in Berlin, Munich, Dortmund and Stuttgart hosted six matches each, whilst the other eight stadia hosted five matches each.

• A cross denotes an indoor stadium.

Berlin	Munich, Bavaria	Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia	Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg
Olympiastadion	Allianz Arena (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich)	Signal Iduna Park (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Dortmund)	Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion
52°30′53″N 13°14′22″E / 52.51472°N 13.23944°E / 52.51472; 13.23944 (Olympiastadion (Berlin))	48°13′7.59″N 11°37′29.11″E / 48.2187750°N 11.6247528°E / 48.2187750; 11.6247528 (Allianz Arena)	51°29′33.25″N 7°27′6.63″E / 51.4925694°N 7.4518417°E / 51.4925694; 7.4518417 (Signal Iduna Park)	48°47′32.17″N 9°13′55.31″E / 48.7922694°N 9.2320306°E / 48.7922694; 9.2320306 (Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion)
Capacity: 72,000	Capacity: 66,000	Capacity: 65,000	Capacity: 52,000
Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia	Berlin   Dortmund   Munich   Stuttgart   Gelsenkirchen   Hamburg   Frankfurt   Cologne   Hanover   Leipzig   Kaiserslautern   Nuremberg 2006 FIFA World Cup (Germany)		Hamburg
Arena AufSchalke† (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Gelsenkirchen)			AOL Arena (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Hamburg)
51°33′16.21″N 7°4′3.32″E / 51.5545028°N 7.0675889°E / 51.5545028; 7.0675889 (Arena AufSchalke)			53°35′13.77″N 9°53′55.02″E / 53.5871583°N 9.8986167°E / 53.5871583; 9.8986167 (AOL Arena)
Capacity: 52,000			Capacity: 50,000
Frankfurt, Hesse			Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate
Commerzbank-Arena† (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Frankfurt)			Fritz-Walter-Stadion
50°4′6.86″N 8°38′43.65″E / 50.0685722°N 8.6454583°E / 50.0685722; 8.6454583 (Commerzbank Arena)			49°26′4.96″N 7°46′35.24″E / 49.4347111°N 7.7764556°E / 49.4347111; 7.7764556 (Fritz-Walter-Stadion)
Capacity: 48,000			Capacity: 46,000
Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia	Hanover, Lower Saxony	Leipzig, Saxony	Nuremberg, Bavaria
RheinEnergieStadion (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Cologne)	AWD-Arena (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Hanover)	Zentralstadion	easyCredit-Stadion (Frankenstadion)
50°56′0.59″N 6°52′29.99″E / 50.9334972°N 6.8749972°E / 50.9334972; 6.8749972 (RheinEnergie Stadion)	52°21′36.24″N 9°43′52.31″E / 52.3600667°N 9.7311972°E / 52.3600667; 9.7311972 (AWD-Arena)	51°20′44.86″N 12°20′53.59″E / 51.3457944°N 12.3482194°E / 51.3457944; 12.3482194 (Zentralstadion)	49°25′34″N 11°7′33″E / 49.42611°N 11.12583°E / 49.42611; 11.12583 (EasyCredit-Stadion)
Capacity: 45,000	Capacity: 43,000	Capacity: 43,000	Capacity: 41,000

Team base camps

Base camps were used by the 32 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament. FIFA announced the base camps for each participating team.

Squads for the 2006 World Cup consisted of 23 players, as in the previous tournament in 2002. Each participating national association had to confirm its 23-player squad by 15 May 2006.

Seeds

The eight seeded teams for the tournament were announced on 6 December 2005 and placed into Pot A for the draw. Pot B contained the unseeded qualifiers from South America, Africa and Oceania; Pot C contained eight of the nine remaining European teams, excluding Serbia and Montenegro. Pot D contained unseeded teams from the CONCACAF region and Asia. To ensure that no group contained three European teams, Serbia and Montenegro was placed in a special pot, as they were the lowest ranked qualified team from Europe on the latest FIFA World Ranking; while it was deemed of less importance they had been seeded higher than Switzerland and Ukraine by the 2006 World Cup seeding tool. Serbia and Montenegro was drawn first, then their group was drawn from the three seeded non-European nations, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.

FIFA predetermined that, hosts, Germany would be placed in Group A, thus being assured of the venues of their group matches in advance of the draw. They also announced, in advance, that Brazil (the defending champion) would be allocated to Group F.

Pot A Team Points Rank   Germany 49.3 4   Brazil 63.7 1   England 50.7 2   Spain 50.0 3   Mexico 47.3 5   France 46.0 6   Italy 44.3 7   Argentina 44.0 8

Pot B Team Points Rank   Paraguay 31.3 15   Tunisia 19.0 22   Ecuador 16.0 23   Ivory Coast 7.0 27   Australia 4.3 28   Ghana 3.3 30   Angola 2.0 31   Togo 1.3 32

Pot C Team Points Rank   Netherlands 38.3 10   Sweden 33.7 13   Croatia 33.0 14   Czech Republic 29.0 16   Portugal 28.7 17   Poland 20.3 20    Switzerland 8.7 25   Ukraine 7.0 26

Pot D Team Points Rank   United States 42.7 9   South Korea 37.3 11   Japan 36.0 12   Costa Rica 22.7 18   Saudi Arabia 20.7 19   Iran 19.3 21   Trinidad and Tobago 4.3 29

Special Pot

Team	Points	Rank
Serbia and Montenegro	15.7	24

The group stage draw was held in Leipzig on 9 December 2005, and the group assignments and order of matches were determined. After the draw was completed, commentators remarked that Group C appeared to be the group of death, while others suggested Group E. Argentina and the Netherlands both qualified with a game to spare with wins over Ivory Coast and Serbia and Montenegro respectively.

Group system

The first round, or group stage, saw the 32 teams divided into eight groups of four teams. Each group was a round-robin of three games, where each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same group. Teams were awarded 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 Round of 16.

Ranking criteria

If teams were level on points, they were ranked on the following criteria in order:

1. Greatest total goal difference in the three group matches
2. Greatest number of goals scored in the three group matches
3. If teams remained level after those criteria, a mini-group would be formed from those teams, who would be ranked on:
   1. Most points earned in matches against other teams in the tie
   2. Greatest goal difference in matches against other teams in the tie
   3. Greatest number of goals scored in matches against other teams in the tie
4. If teams remained level after all these criteria, FIFA would hold a drawing of lots

In the original version of the rules for the finals tournament, the ranking criteria were in a different order, with head-to-head results taking precedence over total goal difference. The rules were changed to the above in advance of the tournament, but older versions were still available on the FIFA and UEFA websites, causing some confusion among those trying to identify the correct criteria. In any event, the finals tournament saw only two pairs of teams level on points: Argentina and the Netherlands at 7 points in Group C; Tunisia and Saudi Arabia at 1 point in Group H. Both of these ties were resolved on total goal difference. Also, in both cases the teams had tied their match, so the order of ranking criteria made no difference.

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.

Hosting

Although Germany failed to win the Cup, the tournament was considered a great success for Germany in general. Germany also experienced a sudden increase in patriotic spirit with flags waving, traditionally frowned upon by German society since World War II whenever the German team played. For the closing ceremonies, Matthias Keller composed a work performed simultaneously by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian State Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra with conductors Christian Thielemann, Zubin Mehta and Mariss Jansons, and soloists Diana Damrau, Plácido Domingo and Lang Lang.

Traditional powers dominate

Despite early success by Australia, Ecuador, and Ghana, the tournament marked a return to dominance of traditional football powers. Four years after the 2002 tournament, in which teams from North America (the United States), Africa (Senegal) and Asia (South Korea) made it deep into the knockout stages and Turkey finished third, all eight seeded teams progressed to the knockout stages and no quarter-finalists were from outside Europe or South America. Six former champions took part in the quarter-finals, with Ukraine and Euro 2004 runners-up Portugal as the only relative outsiders. Argentina and Brazil were eliminated in the quarter-finals, leaving an all-European final four for only the fourth time (after the 1934, 1966, and 1982 tournaments).

Scoring

Despite the early goals that flooded the group stages, the knock-out phase had a much lower goals per match ratio. A prime example of the dearth of goals was Portugal, which only scored in the 23rd minute of the round of 16, and did not score again until the 88th minute of the third place play-off. No player managed to score a hat-trick in this tournament. Italy, Germany, Argentina, Brazil and France were the only teams to score more than one goal in a knockout match. Germany was one of the exceptions, tending to play an attacking style of football throughout the knock-out stage, which was reflected by the fact that they scored the most goals (14), with players from all three outfield positions (defence, midfield and forward) making the scoresheet.

Germany's Miroslav Klose scored five goals to claim the Golden Boot, the lowest total to win the prize since 1962. No other player scored more than three goals. No player from the winning Italian squad scored more than two goals, though ten players had scored for the team, tying France's record in 1982 for the most goalscorers from any one team.

For the first time ever in the FIFA World Cup, the first and last goals of the tournament were scored by defenders. German left-back Philipp Lahm scored the opener against Costa Rica after only 5 minutes of the opening match. In the final, Italian centre-back Marco Materazzi out-jumped Patrick Vieira and headed in the last goal of the 2006 World Cup. In addition, Fabio Grosso clinched the cup for Italy with the decisive spot kick in the penalty shootout.

Unprecedented number of cards

The tournament had a record number of yellow and red cards, breaking the previous record set by the 1998 World Cup. Players received a record-breaking 345 yellow cards and 28 red cards, with Russian referee Valentin Ivanov handing out 16 yellow and 4 red cards in the round of 16 match between Portugal and the Netherlands in a match known as the Battle of Nuremberg. Portugal had two players suspended for each of the quarter-final and semi-final matches respectively. FIFA President Sepp Blatter hinted that he may allow some rule changes for future tournaments so that earlier accumulated bookings will not force players to miss the final, should their teams make it that far. The tournament also saw English referee Graham Poll mistakenly hand out three yellow cards to Croatia's Josip Šimunić in their match against Australia.

The high number of yellow and red cards shown also prompted discussion about the tournament's referees. FIFA officials and President Sepp Blatter received criticism for allegedly making rules too rigid and taking discretion away from referees.

 

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

In the following tables:

• 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)
• Pts = total points accumulated

Group A

In the opening match of the tournament, Germany and Costa Rica played a game which ended 4–2 for the host in the highest scoring opening match in the tournament's history. Germany went on to win the Group A after edging Poland and breezing past Ecuador 3–0. Despite the defeat, Ecuador had already joined the host in the Round of 16 having beaten Poland and Costa Rica 2–0 and 3–0, respectively.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany (H)	3	3	0	0	8	2	+6	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	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

9 June 2006

18:00

Germany	4–2	Costa Rica
Lahm   6' Klose   17', 61' Frings   87'	Report	Wanchope   12', 73'

Allianz Arena, Munich

Attendance: 66,000

Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)

9 June 2006

21:00

Poland	0–2	Ecuador
	Report	C. Tenorio   24' Delgado   80'

Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen

Attendance: 52,000

Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)

14 June 2006

21:00

Germany	1–0	Poland
Neuville   90+1'	Report

Westfalenstadion, Dortmund

Attendance: 65,000

Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)

15 June 2006

15:00

Ecuador	3–0	Costa Rica
C. Tenorio   8' Delgado   54' Kaviedes   90+2'	Report

Volksparkstadion, Hamburg

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Coffi Codjia (Benin)

20 June 2006

16:00

Ecuador	0–3	Germany
	Report	Klose   4', 44' Podolski   57'

Olympiastadion, Berlin

Attendance: 72,000

Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)

20 June 2006

16:00

Costa Rica	1–2	Poland
Gómez   25'	Report	Bosacki   33', 65'

Niedersachsenstadion, Hanover

Attendance: 43,000

Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)

Group B

In Group B, England and Sweden pushed Paraguay into third place after narrow victories over the South Americans. Trinidad and Tobago earned some international respect after a draw with Sweden in their opening game and managing to hold England scoreless for 83 minutes, until goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard sealed a 2–0 win for the Three Lions. Sweden qualified for the knockout rounds after drawing 2–2 with England to maintain their 38-year unbeaten record against them.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	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

10 June 2006

15:00

England	1–0	Paraguay
Gamarra   4' (o.g.)	Report

Waldstadion, Frankfurt

Attendance: 48,000

Referee: Marco Rodríguez (Mexico)

10 June 2006

18:00

Trinidad and Tobago	0–0	Sweden
	Report

Westfalenstadion, Dortmund

Attendance: 62,959

Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)

15 June 2006

18:00

England	2–0	Trinidad and Tobago
Crouch   83' Gerrard   90+1'	Report

Frankenstadion, Nuremberg

Attendance: 41,000

Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)

15 June 2006

21:00

Sweden	1–0	Paraguay
Ljungberg   89'	Report

Olympiastadion, Berlin

Attendance: 72,000

Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)

20 June 2006

21:00

Sweden	2–2	England
Allbäck   51' Larsson   90'	Report	J. Cole   34' Gerrard   85'

RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)

20 June 2006

21:00

Paraguay	2–0	Trinidad and Tobago
Sancho   25' (o.g.) Cuevas   86'	Report

Fritz-Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern

Attendance: 46,000

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

Group C

Both Argentina and Netherlands qualified from Group C with a game remaining. Argentina topped the group on goal difference, having hammered Serbia and Montenegro 6–0 and beaten Ivory Coast 2–1. The Dutch picked up 1–0 and 2–1 victories over Serbia and Montenegro and Ivory Coast, respectively. Ivory Coast defeated Serbia and Montenegro 3–2 in their final game, in Serbia and Montenegro's last international as the country had dissolved 18 days earlier.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Argentina	3	2	1	0	8	1	+7	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	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

10 June 2006

21:00

Argentina	2–1	Ivory Coast
Crespo   24' Saviola   38'	Report	Drogba   82'

Volksparkstadion, Hamburg

Attendance: 49,480

Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

11 June 2006

15:00

Serbia and Montenegro	0–1	Netherlands
	Report	Robben   18'

Zentralstadion, Leipzig

Attendance: 43,000

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)

16 June 2006

15:00

Argentina	6–0	Serbia and Montenegro
Rodríguez   6', 41' Cambiasso   31' Crespo   78' Tevez   84' Messi   88'	Report

Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen

Attendance: 52,000

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

16 June 2006

18:00

Netherlands	2–1	Ivory Coast
van Persie   23' van Nistelrooy   27'	Report	B. Koné   38'

Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart

Attendance: 52,000

Referee: Óscar Ruiz (Colombia)

21 June 2006

21:00

Netherlands	0–0	Argentina
	Report

Waldstadion, Frankfurt

Attendance: 48,000

Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)

21 June 2006

21:00

Ivory Coast	3–2	Serbia and Montenegro
Dindane   37' (pen.), 67' Kalou   86' (pen.)	Report	Žigić   10' Ilić   20'

Allianz Arena, Munich

Attendance: 66,000

Referee: Marco Rodríguez (Mexico)

Group D

Portugal coasted through in Group D, picking up the maximum number of points, with Mexico qualifying in second. Iran missed chances against Mexico in their opening 1–3 defeat and were eliminated in their match against Portugal. They fought hard against the Portuguese, but lost 2–0. Their last game against Angola ended in 1–1 draw. The Africans had a respectable first World Cup tournament after earning draws with Mexico (0–0) and Iran.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	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

11 June 2006

18:00

Mexico	3–1	Iran
Bravo   28', 76' Sinha   79'	Report	Golmohammadi   36'

Frankenstadion, Nuremberg

Attendance: 41,000

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

11 June 2006

21:00

Angola	0–1	Portugal
	Report	Pauleta   4'

RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)

16 June 2006

21:00

Mexico	0–0	Angola
	Report

Niedersachsenstadion, Hanover

Attendance: 43,000

Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)

17 June 2006

15:00

Portugal	2–0	Iran
Deco   63' Ronaldo   80' (pen.)	Report

Waldstadion, Frankfurt

Attendance: 48,000

Referee: Éric Poulat (France)

21 June 2006

16:00

Portugal	2–1	Mexico
Maniche   6' Simão   24' (pen.)	Report	Fonseca   29'

Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen

Attendance: 52,000

Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)

21 June 2006

16:00

Iran	1–1	Angola
Bakhtiarizadeh   75'	Report	Flávio   60'

Zentralstadion, Leipzig

Attendance: 38,000

Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)

Group E

In Group E, Italy went through to the Round of 16 conceding just one goal (an own goal) by Cristian Zaccardo in the group phase against the United States. The US bowed out of the tournament after disappointing results against the Czech Republic and Ghana, 0–3 and 1–2, respectively, despite a 1–1 draw (finishing with 9 vs 10 men) against Italy. Tournament debutant Ghana joined Italy in the round of 16, following victories over the Czech Republic and the United States. Daniele De Rossi was suspended for 4 games following his sending-off against the United States.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	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

12 June 2006

18:00

United States	0–3	Czech Republic
	Report	Koller   5' Rosický   36', 76'

Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen

Attendance: 52,000

Referee: Carlos Amarilla (Paraguay)

12 June 2006

21:00

Italy	2–0	Ghana
Pirlo   40' Iaquinta   83'	Report

Niedersachsenstadion, Hanover

Attendance: 43,000

Referee: Carlos Simon (Brazil)

17 June 2006

18:00

Czech Republic	0–2	Ghana
	Report	Gyan   2' Muntari   82'

RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)

17 June 2006

21:00

Italy	1–1	United States
Gilardino   22'	Report	Zaccardo   27' (o.g.)

Fritz-Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern

Attendance: 46,000

Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)

22 June 2006

16:00

Czech Republic	0–2	Italy
	Report	Materazzi   26' Inzaghi   87'

Volksparkstadion, Hamburg

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)

22 June 2006

16:00

Ghana	2–1	United States
Draman   22' Appiah   45+2' (pen.)	Report	Dempsey   43'

Frankenstadion, Nuremberg

Attendance: 41,000

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)

Group F

Group F included the reigning World Champions Brazil, Croatia, Japan, and Australia. Playing in their first World Cup for 32 years, Australia came from behind to defeat Japan 3–1, and, despite losing 0–2 to Brazil, a 2–2 draw with Croatia was enough to give the Australians a place in the Round of 16 in a game where two players were sent-off for second bookings and one, erroneously, for a third booking by English referee Graham Poll. The Brazilians won all three games to qualify first in the group. Their 1–0 win against Croatia was through a goal late in the first-half by Kaká. Croatia and Japan went out of the tournament without a single win.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Brazil	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	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

12 June 2006

15:00

Australia	3–1	Japan
Cahill   84', 89' Aloisi   90+2'	Report	Nakamura   26'

Fritz-Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern

Attendance: 46,000

Referee: Essam Abd El Fatah (Egypt)

13 June 2006

21:00

Brazil	1–0	Croatia
Kaká   44'	Report

Olympiastadion, Berlin

Attendance: 72,000

Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)

18 June 2006

15:00

Japan	0–0	Croatia
	Report

Frankenstadion, Nuremberg

Attendance: 41,000

Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

18 June 2006

18:00

Brazil	2–0	Australia
Adriano   49' Fred   90'	Report

Allianz Arena, Munich

Attendance: 66,000

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)

22 June 2006

21:00

Japan	1–4	Brazil
Tamada   34'	Report	Ronaldo   45+1', 81' Juninho   53' Gilberto   59'

Westfalenstadion, Dortmund

Attendance: 65,000

Referee: Éric Poulat (France)

22 June 2006

21:00

Croatia	2–2	Australia
Srna   2' N. Kovač   56'	Report	Moore   38' (pen.) Kewell   79'

Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart

Attendance: 52,000

Referee: Graham Poll (England)

Group G

France only managed a scoreless draw against Switzerland and a 1–1 draw against South Korea. With captain Zinedine Zidane suspended, their 2–0 win against Togo was enough for them to advance to the knockout round. They were joined by the group winners, Switzerland, who defeated South Korea 2–0, and did not concede a goal in the tournament. South Korea won their first World Cup finals match outside their own country in defeating Togo, but four points were not enough to see them through to the round of 16 (the only team for which this was the case), while Togo exited without a point.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Switzerland	3	2	1	0	4	0	+4	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	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

13 June 2006

15:00

South Korea	2–1	Togo
Lee Chun-soo   54' Ahn Jung-hwan   72'	Report	Kader   31'

Waldstadion, Frankfurt

Attendance: 48,000

Referee: Graham Poll (England)

13 June 2006

18:00

France	0–0	Switzerland
	Report

Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart

Attendance: 52,000

Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)

18 June 2006

21:00

France	1–1	South Korea
Henry   9'	Report	Park Ji-sung   81'

Zentralstadion, Leipzig

Attendance: 43,000

Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)

19 June 2006

15:00

Togo	0–2	Switzerland
	Report	Frei   16' Barnetta   88'

Westfalenstadion, Dortmund

Attendance: 65,000

Referee: Carlos Amarilla (Paraguay)

23 June 2006

21:00

Togo	0–2	France
	Report	Vieira   55' Henry   61'

RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)

23 June 2006

21:00

Switzerland	2–0	South Korea
Senderos   23' Frei   77'	Report

Niedersachsenstadion, Hanover

Attendance: 43,000

Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)

Group H

Spain dominated Group H, picking up the maximum number of points, scoring 8 goals, and conceding only 1. Ukraine, despite being beaten 4–0 by Spain in their first World Cup game, took advantage of the weaker opponents to beat Saudi Arabia 4–0 and scrape past Tunisia 1–0 thanks to a 70th-minute penalty by Andriy Shevchenko, to reach the Round of 16. Saudi Arabia and Tunisia went out of the tournament having 1 point each, thanks to a 2–2 draw against each other.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	3	3	0	0	8	1	+7	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	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

14 June 2006

15:00

Spain	4–0	Ukraine
Alonso   13' Villa   17', 48' (pen.) Torres   81'	Report

Zentralstadion, Leipzig

Attendance: 43,000

Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)

14 June 2006

18:00

Tunisia	2–2	Saudi Arabia
Jaziri   23' Jaïdi   90+2'	Report	Al-Qahtani   57' Al-Jaber   84'

Allianz Arena, Munich

Attendance: 66,000

Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)

19 June 2006

18:00

Saudi Arabia	0–4	Ukraine
	Report	Rusol   4' Rebrov   36' Shevchenko   46' Kalynychenko   84'

Volksparkstadion, Hamburg

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Graham Poll (England)

19 June 2006

21:00

Spain	3–1	Tunisia
Raúl   71' Torres   76', 90+1' (pen.)	Report	Mnari   8'

Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart

Attendance: 52,000

Referee: Carlos Simon (Brazil)

23 June 2006

16:00

Saudi Arabia	0–1	Spain
	Report	Juanito   36'

Fritz-Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern

Attendance: 46,000

Referee: Coffi Codjia (Benin)

23 June 2006

16:00

Ukraine	1–0	Tunisia
Shevchenko   70' (pen.)	Report

Olympiastadion, Berlin

Attendance: 72,000

Referee: Carlos Amarilla (Paraguay)

The knockout stage involved 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, and 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 15-minute halves); if scores were still level there would be a penalty shoot-out (at least five penalties each, and more if necessary) to determine who progressed to the next round.

Bracket

Results decided after extra time are indicated by (a.e.t.), and results decided via a penalty shoot-out are indicated by (p).

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

24 June – Munich

Germany

2

30 June – Berlin

Sweden

0

Germany (p)

1 (4)

24 June – Leipzig

Argentina

1 (2)

Argentina (a.e.t.)

2

4 July – Dortmund

Mexico

1

Germany

0

26 June – Kaiserslautern

Italy (a.e.t.)

2

Italy

1

30 June – Hamburg

Australia

0

Italy

3

26 June – Cologne

Ukraine

0

Switzerland

0 (0)

9 July – Berlin

Ukraine (p)

0 (3)

Italy (p)

1 (5)

25 June – Stuttgart

France

1 (3)

England

1

1 July – Gelsenkirchen

Ecuador

0

England

0 (1)

25 June – Nuremberg

Portugal (p)

0 (3)

Portugal

1

5 July – Munich

Netherlands

0

Portugal

0

27 June – Dortmund

France

1

Third place play-off

Brazil

3

1 July – Frankfurt

8 July – Stuttgart

Ghana

0

Brazil

0

Germany

3

27 June – Hanover

France

1

Portugal

1

Spain

1

France

3

Round of 16

In the second round, conceding two early goals in the first twelve minutes to Germany effectively ended the Swedes' hopes of progressing to the quarter-finals. Argentina struggled to get past Mexico until a Maxi Rodríguez goal in extra time put the Albiceleste in the quarter-finals. Australia's journey ended when Italians were awarded a penalty, after a clear foul on Fabio Grosso, scored by Francesco Totti, deep into the remaining seconds of the match. The Italians had spent much of the game with only ten men on the field, following a controversial red card shown to centre back Marco Materazzi. In a 0–0 match, described in The Guardian as "the dullest game in World Cup history", Switzerland failed to convert any of their three penalties in the penalty shoot-out against Ukraine to see them exit the competition with an unwanted new record in becoming the first team in a World Cup to fail to convert any penalties in a shootout. Their elimination also meant that they became the first nation to be eliminated from the World Cup without conceding any goals (and indeed the only nation ever to participate in a World Cup finals tournament without conceding a goal). No two teams from the same group qualified for the quarters, all eight teams were from different groups.

England struggled against Ecuador but won 1–0 thanks to a David Beckham free kick. Brazil won 3–0 against Ghana, in a game which included Ronaldo's record 15th World Cup goal. Der Spiegel reported that the match may have been influenced by an Asian betting syndicate. Portugal defeated the Netherlands 1–0. The only goal came courtesy of a Maniche strike in an acrimonious match, which marked a new World Cup record with 16 yellow cards (Portugal: 9, the Netherlands: 7) and 4 players being sent off for a second bookable offence. France came from behind to defeat Spain 3–1 thanks to goals from Franck Ribéry, Patrick Vieira, and Zinedine Zidane.

24 June 2006

17:00

Germany	2–0	Sweden
Podolski   4', 12'	Report

Allianz Arena, Munich

Attendance: 66,000

Referee: Carlos Simon (Brazil)

24 June 2006

21:00

Argentina	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Mexico
Crespo   10' Rodríguez   98'	Report	Márquez   6'

Zentralstadion, Leipzig

Attendance: 43,000

Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)

25 June 2006

17:00

England	1–0	Ecuador
Beckham   60'	Report

Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart

Attendance: 52,000

Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

25 June 2006

21:00

Portugal	1–0	Netherlands
Maniche   23'	Report

Frankenstadion, Nuremberg

Attendance: 41,000

Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)

26 June 2006

17:00

Italy	1–0	Australia
Totti   90+5' (pen.)	Report

Fritz-Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern

Attendance: 46,000

Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)

26 June 2006

21:00

Switzerland	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Ukraine
	Report
Penalties
Streller   Barnetta   Cabanas	0–3	Shevchenko   Milevskyi   Rebrov   Husiev

RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)

27 June 2006

17:00

Brazil	3–0	Ghana
Ronaldo   5' Adriano   45+1' Zé Roberto   84'	Report

Westfalenstadion, Dortmund

Attendance: 65,000

Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)

27 June 2006

21:00

Spain	1–3	France
Villa   28' (pen.)	Report	Ribéry   41' Vieira   83' Zidane   90+2'

Niedersachsenstadion, Hanover

Attendance: 43,000

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

Quarter-finals

Germany and Argentina ended 1–1 after extra time; the hosts edged out the Argentinians 4–2 on penalties to go through to the semifinals (this was the first time Argentina had lost a World Cup penalty shootout: up until this match, Argentina and Germany had each participated in three penalty shootouts, winning all of them).

In Gelsenkirchen, England faced Portugal in a repeat of their Euro 2004 quarter-final. This time Wayne Rooney was sent off, and Portugal again won on penalties, 3–1 after a 0–0 draw to reach their first World Cup semi-final since the days of Eusébio 40 years earlier. This gave manager Luiz Felipe Scolari his third consecutive tournament quarter-final win over Sven-Göran Eriksson's England, first with Brazil en route to their 2002 World Cup win, then with Portugal in 2004 and 2006.

Italy defeated quarter-final debutants Ukraine 3–0. France eliminated Brazil 1–0 to advance into the semi-finals. Brazil only managed one shot on goal, while Zinedine Zidane's dribbling earned him Man of the Match and his free-kick to Thierry Henry resulted in the winning goal.

30 June 2006

17:00

Germany	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Argentina
Klose   80'	Report	Ayala   49'
Penalties
Neuville   Ballack   Podolski   Borowski	4–2	Cruz   Ayala   Rodríguez   Cambiasso

Olympiastadion, Berlin

Attendance: 72,000

Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)

30 June 2006

21:00

Italy	3–0	Ukraine
Zambrotta   6' Toni   59', 69'	Report

Volksparkstadion, Hamburg

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

1 July 2006

17:00

England	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Portugal
	Report
Penalties
Lampard   Hargreaves   Gerrard   Carragher	1–3	Simão   Viana   Petit   Postiga   Ronaldo

Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen

Attendance: 52,000

Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)

1 July 2006

21:00

Brazil	0–1	France
	Report	Henry   57'

Waldstadion, Frankfurt

Attendance: 48,000

Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)

Semi-finals

With Argentina and Brazil eliminated in the quarter-finals, an all-European semi-final line up was completed for only the fourth time (after the 1934, 1966 and 1982 tournaments).

The semi-final between Germany and Italy produced an extra time period that went scoreless until the 118th minute, when Italy scored twice through Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero, putting an end to Germany's undefeated record in Dortmund.

In the second semi-final, Portugal lost to France 1–0 in Munich. In a repeat of the Euro 1984 and Euro 2000 semi-finals, Portugal were defeated by France, with the decisive goal being a penalty scored by France captain Zinedine Zidane.

4 July 2006

21:00

Germany	0–2 (a.e.t.)	Italy
	Report	Grosso   119' Del Piero   120+1'

Westfalenstadion, Dortmund

Attendance: 65,000

Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)

5 July 2006

21:00

Portugal	0–1	France
	Report	Zidane   33' (pen.)

Allianz Arena, Munich

Attendance: 66,000

Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)

Third place play-off

The hosts got three goals in 20 minutes in the second half with the help of 21-year-old left midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger. His first goal beat the Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo with pace over his head. Only 4 minutes later, Schweinsteiger's free kick 30 metres from the left of the penalty box, driven low across goal, was connected with Petit's knee to become an own goal for Portugal. The German did not stop, and netted his second goal, which swerved away to the keeper's left, in the 78th minute.

Portugal were strong in possession but lacked punch in attack; unable to convert 57% possession into goals. Pauleta had two clear chances from 15 metres, but both times hit tame shots that did not trouble keeper Oliver Kahn, who was playing in his last match for the German national team. Portugal got a consolation goal with the help of substitute Luís Figo (also playing the final international game of his career), who almost immediately provided the precise distribution needed to unlock the German defence. A cross from the right wing on 88 minutes found fellow substitute Nuno Gomes at the far post, who dived in for the goal. The game ended 3–1, a result which gave the tournament hosts the bronze medals and left Portugal in fourth place.

8 July 2006

21:00

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

Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart

Attendance: 52,000

Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)

Final

The final started with each side scoring within the first 20 minutes. Zinedine Zidane opened the scoring by converting a controversial seventh-minute penalty kick, which glanced off the underside of the crossbar and bounced beyond the goal line before it spun back up, hit the crossbar again and rebounded out of the goal. Marco Materazzi then levelled the scores in the 19th minute following an Andrea Pirlo corner. Both teams had chances to score the winning goal in normal time: Luca Toni hit the crossbar in the 35th minute for Italy (he later had a header disallowed for offside), while France were not awarded a possible second penalty in the 53rd minute when Florent Malouda went down in the box after a tackle from Gianluca Zambrotta. The reverse angle review anyway clears that there was no penalty and the referee took the right decision.

At the end of the regulation 90 minutes, the score was still level at 1–1, and the match went into extra time. Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made a potentially game-saving save in extra time when he tipped a Zidane header over the crossbar. Further controversy ensued near the end of extra time, when Zidane head-butted Materazzi in the chest in an off-the-ball incident and was sent off. Extra time produced no further goals and a penalty shootout followed, which Italy won 5–3. France's David Trezeguet, the man who scored the golden goal against Italy in Euro 2000, was the only player not to score his penalty; his spot kick hit the crossbar, landed on the goal line, and went out. It was the first all-European final since Italy's triumph over West Germany in the 1982 World Cup, and the second final, after 1994, to be decided on penalties. It was also Italy's first world title in 24 years, and their fourth overall, making them the second most successful World Cup team ever. The victory also helped Italy top the FIFA World Rankings in February 2007 for the first time since November 1993.

9 July 2006

20:00

Italy	1–1 (a.e.t.)	France
Materazzi   19'	Report	Zidane   7' (pen.)
Penalties
Pirlo   Materazzi   De Rossi   Del Piero   Grosso	5–3	Wiltord   Trezeguet   Abidal   Sagnol

Olympiastadion, Berlin

Attendance: 69,000

Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)

Goalscorers

Miroslav Klose received the Golden Boot for scoring five goals in the World Cup. In total, 147 goals were scored by 110 players, with four of them credited as own goals.

5 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal