2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

Qualification for
championships (UEFA)

Listed below are the dates and results for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for UEFA teams. A total of 51 teams took part, divided in 8 Groups - five groups of 6 teams each and three groups of 7 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 teams in each group would play against each other in a home-and-away basis. The team with most points in each group would qualify to the World Cup. The runners-up would be ranked. For the sake of fairness, in groups with 7 teams, results against the 7th placed team were ignored. The two best ranked runners-up would also qualify to the World Cup. The other six runners-up were drawn into three home-and-away knock-out matches, winners of those matches 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.

If first-time finalists Ukraine caused a surprise, elsewhere many of the usual suspects were prominent. The Netherlands, Portugal, France, Italy and England all won their groups, although in the case of the French and English only after a stumble or two along the way.

For this edition, three British teams were drawn in the same group: England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the only one not in the same group being Scotland. This meant that there were to be at least 6 British derbies played. One of those most talked about by the press was the fixture between England and Wales, as it was to be the first (and only) time childhood friends and then Manchester United teammates Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville played against each other in a competitive fixture.

One of the big shocks also included reigning European Champions Greece failing to qualify for the tournament finishing fourth in group 2 featuring Turkey, Denmark, and Ukraine. Another idiosyncrasy was Israel finishing unbeaten (in a tough group containing France, Switzerland and the Republic of Ireland) yet coming third in the group and failing to even make the play-offs.

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

Contents

Tiebreakers

If teams are even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams will be ranked as follows:

  1. greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams
  2. goal difference in matches between the tied teams
  3. greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams
  4. goal difference in all group matches
  5. greater number of goals scored in all group matches
  6. a play-off on neutral ground, with extra time and penalties if necessary (in qualifying)
  7. drawing of lots (at the final event)

This is a change from the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where total goal difference was the first tiebreaker.

Group 1

Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 1
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Netherlands 12 10 2 0 27 3 +24 32
 Czech Republic 12 9 0 3 35 12 +23 27
 Romania 12 8 1 3 20 10 +10 25
 Finland 12 5 1 6 21 19 +2 16
 Macedonia 12 2 3 7 11 24 −13 9
 Armenia 12 2 1 9 9 25 −16 7
 Andorra 12 1 2 9 4 34 −30 5
 
Andorra  – 0–3 0–4 0–0 1–0 0–3 1–5
Armenia  2–1 – 0–3 0–2 1–2 0–1 1–1
Czech Republic  8–1 4–1 – 4–3 6–1 0–2 1–0
Finland  3–0 3–1 0–3 – 5–1 0–4 0–1
Macedonia  0–0 3–0 0–2 0–3 – 2–2 1–2
Netherlands  4–0 2–0 2–0 3–1 0–0 – 2–0
Romania  2–0 3–0 2–0 2–1 2–1 0–2 –

Group 2

Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 2
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Ukraine 12 7 4 1 18 7 +11 25
 Turkey 12 6 5 1 23 9 +14 23
 Denmark 12 6 4 2 24 12 +12 22
 Greece 12 6 3 3 15 9 +6 21
 Albania 12 4 1 7 11 20 −9 13
 Georgia 12 2 4 6 14 25 −11 10
 Kazakhstan 12 0 1 11 6 29 −23 1
 
Albania  – 0–2 3–2 2–1 2–1 0–1 0–2
Denmark  3–1 – 6–1 1–0 3–0 1–1 1–1
Georgia  2–0 2–2 – 1–3 0–0 2–5 1–1
Greece  2–0 2–1 1–0 – 3–1 0–0 0–1
Kazakhstan  0–1 1–2 1–2 1–2 – 0–6 1–2
Turkey  2–0 2–2 1–1 0–0 4–0 – 0–3
Ukraine  2–2 1–0 2–0 1–1 2–0 0–1 –

Group 3

Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 3
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Portugal 12 9 3 0 35 5 +30 30
 Slovakia 12 6 5 1 24 8 +16 23
 Russia 12 6 5 1 23 12 +11 23
 Estonia 12 5 2 5 16 17 −1 17
 Latvia 12 4 3 5 18 21 −3 15
 Liechtenstein 12 2 2 8 13 23 −10 8
 Luxembourg 12 0 0 12 5 48 −43 0
 
Estonia  – 2–1 2–0 4–0 0–1 1–1 1–2
Latvia  2–2 – 1–0 4–0 0–2 1–1 1–1
Liechtenstein  1–2 1–3 – 3–0 2–2 1–2 0–0
Luxembourg  0–2 3–4 0–4 – 0–5 0–4 0–4
Portugal  4–0 3–0 2–1 6–0 – 7–1 2–0
Russia  4–0 2–0 2–0 5–1 0–0 – 1–1
Slovakia  1–0 4–1 7–0 3–1 1–1 0–0 –

Group 4

Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 4
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 France 10 5 5 0 14 2 +12 20
 Switzerland 10 4 6 0 18 7 +11 18
 Israel 10 4 6 0 15 10 +5 18
 Republic of Ireland 10 4 5 1 12 5 +7 17
 Cyprus 10 1 1 8 8 20 −12 4
 Faroe Islands 10 0 1 9 4 27 −23 1
 
Cyprus  – 2–2 0–2 1–2 0–1 1–3
Faroe Islands  0–3 – 0–2 0–2 0–2 1–3
France  4–0 3–0 – 0–0 0–0 0–0
Israel  2–1 2–1 1–1 – 1–1 2–2
Republic of Ireland  3–0 2–0 0–1 2–2 – 0–0
Switzerland  1–0 6–0 1–1 1–1 1–1 –

Group 5

Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 5
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Italy 10 7 2 1 17 8 +9 23
 Norway 10 5 3 2 12 7 +5 18
 Scotland 10 3 4 3 9 7 +2 13
 Slovenia 10 3 3 4 10 13 −3 12
 Belarus 10 2 4 4 12 14 −2 10
 Moldova 10 1 2 7 5 16 −11 5
 
Belarus  – 1–4 4–0 0–1 0–0 1–1
Italy  4–3 – 2–1 2–1 2–0 1–0
Moldova  2–0 0–1 – 0–0 1–1 1–2
Norway  1–1 0–0 1–0 – 1–2 3–0
Scotland  0–1 1–1 2–0 0–1 – 0–0
Slovenia  1–1 1–0 3–0 2–3 0–3 –

Group 6

Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 England 10 8 1 1 17 5 +12 25
 Poland 10 8 0 2 27 9 +18 24
 Austria 10 4 3 3 15 12 +3 15
 Northern Ireland 10 2 3 5 10 18 −8 9
 Wales 10 2 2 6 10 15 −5 8
 Azerbaijan 10 0 3 7 1 21 −20 3
 
Austria  – 2–0 2–2 2–0 1–3 1–0
Azerbaijan  0–0 – 0–1 0–0 0–3 1–1
England  1–0 2–0 – 4–0 2–1 2–0
Northern Ireland  3–3 2–0 1–0 – 0–3 2–3
Poland  3–2 8–0 1–2 1–0 – 1–0
Wales  0–2 2–0 0–1 2–2 2–3 –

Group 7

Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 7
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Serbia and Montenegro 10 6 4 0 16 1 +15 22
 Spain 10 5 5 0 19 3 +16 20
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 4 4 2 12 9 +3 16
 Belgium 10 3 3 4 16 11 +5 12
 Lithuania 10 2 4 4 8 9 −1 10
 San Marino 10 0 0 10 2 40 −38 0
 
Belgium  – 4–1 1–1 8–0 0–2 0–2
Bosnia and Herzegovina  1–0 – 1–1 3–0 0–0 1–1
Lithuania  1–1 0–1 – 4–0 0–2 0–0
San Marino  1–2 1–3 0–1 – 0–3 0–6
Serbia and Montenegro  0–0 1–0 2–0 5–0 – 0–0
Spain  2–0 1–1 1–0 5–0 1–1 –

Group 8

Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 8
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Croatia 10 7 3 0 21 5 +16 24
 Sweden 10 8 0 2 30 4 +26 24
 Bulgaria 10 4 3 3 20 17 0 15
 Hungary 10 4 2 4 13 14 −1 14
 Iceland 10 1 1 8 14 27 −13 4
 Malta 10 0 3 7 4 29 −25 3
 
Bulgaria  – 1–3 2–0 3–2 4–1 0–3
Croatia  2–2 – 3–0 4–0 3–0 1–0
Hungary  1–1 0–0 – 3–2 4–0 0–1
Iceland  1–3 1–3 2–3 – 4–1 1–4
Malta  1–1 1–1 0–2 0–0 – 0–7
Sweden  3–0 0–1 3–0 3–1 6–0 –

Play-offs

Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA play-off)

Sweden and Poland qualified directly to the World Cup. The other teams had to play-off.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Sweden 10 8 0 2 30 4 26 24
 Poland 10 8 0 2 27 9 18 24
 Czech Republic 10 7 0 3 23 11 12 21
 Spain 10 5 5 0 19 3 16 20
 Switzerland 10 4 6 0 18 7 11 18
 Norway 10 5 3 2 12 7 5 18
 Slovakia 10 4 5 1 17 7 10 17
 Turkey 10 4 5 1 13 9 4 17

First leg

12 November 2005
22:00 CET
 Spain  5 – 1  Slovakia Vicente Calderón Stadium, Madrid
Attendance: 47,210
Referee: Massimo De Santis (Italy)
Luis García  10', 18', 74'
Torres  65' (pen.)
Morientes  79'		 Report Németh  49'
12 November 2005
20:45 CET
 Switzerland  2 – 0  Turkey Stade de Suisse, Bern
Attendance: 31,130
Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)
Senderos  41'
Behrami  86'		 Report
12 November 2005
19:30 CET
 Norway  0 – 1  Czech Republic Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo
Attendance: 24,264
Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)
Report Šmicer  31'

Second leg

16 November 2005
20:15 CET
 Slovakia  1 – 1  Spain Tehelné pole, Bratislava
Attendance: 23,587
Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)
Hološko  50' Report Villa  71'

Spain won 6–2 on aggregate.

16 November 2005
20:15 EET
 Turkey  4 – 2  Switzerland Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, Istanbul
Attendance: 42,000
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
Tuncay  22', 36', 89'
Necati  52' (pen.)		 Report Frei  2' (pen.)
Streller  84'

Switzerland 4–4 Turkey. Switzerland won on away goals.

16 November 2005
20:15 CET
 Czech Republic  1 – 0  Norway Toyota Arena, Prague
Attendance: 17,464
Referee: Graham Poll (England)
Rosický  35' Report

Czech Republic won 2–0 on aggregate.

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1Decisive match of a final group stage. 2No qualification took place as places were given by invitation only.