Editing 2006 FIFA World Cup (section)

==Qualification==
{{main|2006 FIFA World Cup qualification}}
198 teams attempted to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/media/newsid=122766.html |title=Record number of 204 teams enter preliminary competition |date=3 March 2007 |access-date=29 March 2008 |publisher=FIFA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117123621/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/media/newsid%3D122766.html |archive-date=17 November 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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 [[Confederation of African Football|CAF]] teams (Africa), four by [[CONMEBOL]] teams (South America), four by [[Asian Football Confederation|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 [[Oceania Football Confederation|OFC]] (Oceania).

Eight nations qualified for the finals for the first time: [[Angola national football team|Angola]], [[Czech Republic national football team|Czech Republic]], [[Ghana national football team|Ghana]], [[Ivory Coast national football team|Ivory Coast]], [[Togo national football team|Togo]], [[Trinidad and Tobago national football team|Trinidad and Tobago]], [[Ukraine national football team|Ukraine]], and [[Serbia and Montenegro national football team|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 [[Yugoslavia national football team|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 national football team|Uruguay]] failed to qualify.

[[Australia men's national soccer team|Australia]] qualified for the first time since 1974. Among the teams who failed to qualify were 2002 third-placed team [[Turkey national football team|Turkey]], quarter-finalists [[Senegal national football team|Senegal]], [[Euro 2004]] winners [[Greece national football team|Greece]] and [[2006 Africa Cup of Nations]] winners [[Egypt national football team|Egypt]]. Additionally, [[Belgium national football team|Belgium]] failed to qualify for the first time since 1978 and [[Cameroon national football team|Cameroon]] failed to qualify for the first time since 1986. The other notable qualifying streaks broken were for [[Nigeria national football team|Nigeria]], who had made the previous three tournaments, and [[Denmark national football team|Denmark]] and [[South Africa national football team|South Africa]], who had both qualified for the previous two. [[France national football team|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 [[Serbia and Montenegro|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 [[CIS national football team|Commonwealth of Independent States]] that appeared at [[UEFA Euro 1992]], a team formed to take the [[Soviet Union national football team|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,<ref name="auto">{{cite web|title=FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking (17 May 2006)|url=https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/rank=144/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919173123/http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/rank=144/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 September 2016|work=FIFA.com|publisher=FIFA|access-date=13 July 2010|date=17 May 2006}}</ref> qualified for the finals tournament:
{{col-begin}}
{{col-4}}
;[[2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)|AFC]] (4)
* {{nowrap|{{fb|IRN}} (23)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|JPN}} (18)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|KSA}} (34)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|KOR|1997}} (29)}}
;[[2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)|CAF]] (5)
* {{nowrap|{{fb|ANG}} (57)}} (debut)
* {{nowrap|{{fb|GHA}} (48)}} (debut)
* {{nowrap|{{fb|CIV}} (32)}} (debut)
* {{nowrap|{{fb|TOG}} (61)}} (debut)
* {{nowrap|{{fb|TUN}} (21)}}
{{col-4}}
;[[2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)|CONCACAF]] (4)
* {{nowrap|{{fb|CRC}} (26)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|MEX}} (4)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|TRI}} (47)}} (debut)
* {{nowrap|{{fb|US|1960}} (5)}}
;[[2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)|CONMEBOL]] (4)
* {{nowrap|{{fb|ARG|1861}} (9)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|BRA}} (1)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|ECU|1900}} (39)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|PAR|1990}} (33)}}
;[[2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)|OFC]] (1)
* {{nowrap|{{fb|AUS}} (42)}}
{{col-4}}
;[[2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)|UEFA]] (14)
* {{nowrap|{{fb|CRO}} (23)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|CZE}} (2)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|ENG}} (10)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|FRA|1974}} (8)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|GER}} (19) (hosts)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|ITA|2003}} (13)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|NED}} (3)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|POL}} (29)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|POR}} (7)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|SCG}} (44)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|ESP}} (5)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|SWE}} (16)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|SUI}} (35)}}
* {{nowrap|{{fb|UKR}} (45)}} (debut)
{{col-4}}<!-- This map should not be removed as it is shows the status of qualification by failed or not enter-->
[[File:2006 world cup qualification.png|thumb|upright=1.4|{{legend|#000cff|Countries qualified for World Cup}} {{legend|#ffb400|Country did not qualify}} {{legend|black|Countries that did not enter World Cup}} {{legend|#ababab|Country not a FIFA member}}]]
{{col-end}}

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
|-
!colspan="4"| Teams listed by FIFA ranking as of May 2006<ref name="auto"/>
|-
! !! Country !! Confederation !! Rank
|-
| 1 || {{fb|BRA}} || CONMEBOL ||align=center| 1
|-
| 2 || {{fb|CZE}} || UEFA ||align=center| 2
|-
| 3 || {{fb|NED}} || UEFA ||align=center| 3
|-
| 4 || {{fb|MEX}}|| CONCACAF ||align=center| 4
|-
|rowspan="2"| 5 || {{fb|US|1960}} || CONCACAF ||align=center| 5
|-
| {{fb|ESP}} || UEFA ||align=center| 5
|-
| 7 || {{fb|POR}} || UEFA ||align=center| 7
|-
| 8 || {{fb|FRA|1974}}|| UEFA ||align=center| 8
|-
| 9 || {{fb|ARG|1861}} || CONMEBOL ||align=center| 9
|-
| 10 || {{fb|ENG}} || UEFA ||align=center| 10
|-
| 11 || {{fb|ITA|2003}} || UEFA ||align=center| 13
|-
| 12 || {{fb|SWE}} || UEFA ||align=center| 16
|-
| 13 || {{fb|JPN}} || AFC ||align=center| 18
|-
| 14 || {{fb|GER}} || UEFA ||align=center| 19
|-
| 15 || {{fb|TUN}} || CAF ||align=center| 21
|-
|rowspan="2"| 16 || {{fb|IRN}} || AFC ||align=center| 23
|-
| {{fb|CRO}} || UEFA ||align=center| 23
|-
| 18 || {{fb|CRC}} || CONCACAF ||align=center| 25
|-
|rowspan="2"| 19 || {{fb|KOR}} || AFC ||align=center| 29
|-
| {{fb|POL}} || UEFA ||align=center| 29
|-
| 21 || {{fb|CIV}} || CAF ||align=center| 32
|-
| 22 || {{fb|PAR}} || CONMEBOL ||align=center| 33
|-
| 23 || {{fb|KSA}} || AFC ||align=center| 34
|-
| 24 || {{fb|SUI}} || UEFA ||align=center| 35
|-
| 25 || {{fb|ECU|1900}} || CONMEBOL ||align=center| 39
|-
| 26 || {{fb|AUS}} || OFC ||align=center| 42
|-
| 27 || {{fb|SCG}} || UEFA ||align=center| 44
|-
| 28 || {{fb|UKR|1992}} || UEFA ||align=center| 45
|-
| 29 || {{fb|TRI}} || CONCACAF ||align=center| 47
|-
| 30 || {{fb|GHA}} || CAF ||align=center| 48
|-
| 31 || {{fb|ANG}} || CAF ||align=center| 57
|-
| 32 || {{fb|TOG}} || CAF ||align=center| 61
|}