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Qualifying draw accompanied by stars
Tonight is the night the remaining teams vieing for qualification into Germany 2006 will discover the route they must take to get there. Some are complicated while others are straight forward. Here's a brief overview on each confederation's qualifying path.
AFC (Asia)
39 teams started the tornament. 32 remain after the preliminary phase. These 32 will be split into eight groups of four of which the winners will progress to the final stage. The final stage involves two groups of four of which the top two qualify and the two third place teams play off to represent Asia in the playoff against CONCACAF.
CAF(Africa)
52 teams started the tornament. 30 remain after preliminary qualifiers. These 30 will be split into five groups of six. The winners of these groups will progress to the world cup in 2006.
CONCACAF (Central & North America & Carribbean)
34 teams to start tornament. 20 of these teams, the lowest ranked nations, are placed into 2 pots. They will be drawn against each other and the winners of home and awway playoffs between them will go into a new pot. The winners are drawn against those placed in either pot A, B or C and once again will playoff in a home and away system. Winner will progress to the semi final stage. A Pot D holds 2 teams and as there will be 2 teams in Pot C remaining they will be drawn against each other for the second stage. The winners of these matches progress to the Semi finals. That is three groups of four. The winners and runners up of these groups progress to the final group creating a six team league. The top three placed nations progress to the world cup while fourth play off against Asia.
CONMEBOL (South America)
10 teams have started the tornament. It consists of a 10 team league, each team playing each other twice. The top four progress to the world cup while 5th plays off against OFC's winner.
OFC (Oceania)
12 teams to start tornament. The top two ranks teams receive a bye (Australia and New Zealand) while the remaining ten are drawn into two groups of five. The top two placed nations progress to the final tage where a six team round robin competition takes place. The top two teams from this playoff in a home and away final to decide who plays the CONMEBOL fifth placed nation.
UEFA (Europe)
51 teams to start tornament. Teams split into three groups of seven and 5 groups of six. Winners and best two runners-up progress to Germany 2006. Remaining six runners up play-off against each other to decide final three entrants. Germany automatically qualify as hosts.
There are also a number of guests taking part in the draw, representing each zone
AFC - Cha Bum Kun (Asian player of the century), Yasuhiko Okudera (first Japanese player to appear in Bundesliga)
CAF - Abedi Pelé Ayew (one of first African players to perform well in Europe. 1993 UEFA Champions League winner with Marseille), Youssou N'Dour (African musician)
CONCACAF - Brandi Chastain (USA world cup '99 winner scoring winning penalty for the US), Jorge Campos (Mexican keeper known for acrobatic feats. '99 Confederations cup winner and 3 world cup tornament appearances)
OFC - Wynton Rufer (Oceania player of the century), Manfred Schaefer (Australian defender in Australia's only appearance in 1974. Born in East Germany and famously played against East & West Germany in WC)
UEFA - Michael Schumacher (6 time F1 champion from Germany), Pierluigi Collina(Considered best referee in the world. Refereed final in Korea/Japan 2002)
5 December, 2003 |
