2002 FIFA World Cup qualification

A total of 199 teams entered the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 32 spots in the final tournament. Korea Republic and Japan, as the co-hosts, and France, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 29 spots open for competition.

The 32 spots available in the 2002 World Cup would be distributed among the continental zones as follows:
* Europe (UEFA): "14.5 places", 1 of them went to automatic qualifier France, while the other 13.5 places were contested by 50 teams. The winner of the 0.5 place would advance to the Intercontinental Play-offs (against a team from AFC)
* South America (CONMEBOL): "4.5 places", contested by 10 teams. The winner of the 0.5 place would advance to the Intercontinental Play-offs (against a team from OFC).
* North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): "3 places", contested by 35 teams.
* Africa (CAF): "5 places", contested by 51 teams.
* Asia (AFC): "4.5 places", 2 of them went to automatic qualifiers South Korea and Japan, while the other 2.5 places were contested by 40 teams. The winner of the 0.5 place would advance to the Intercontinental Play-offs (against a team from UEFA).
* Oceania (OFC): "0.5 place", contested by 10 teams. The winner of the 0.5 place would advance to the Intercontinental Play-offs (against a team from CONMEBOL).

A total of 193 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 777 qualifying matches were played, and 2452 goals were scored (an average of 3.16 per match).

Continental zones

To see the dates and results of the qualification rounds for each continental zone, click on the following articles:
*Europe (UEFA):Group 1 - Russia qualified. "Slovenia" advanced to the UEFA Play-offs.:Group 2 - Portugal qualified. "Republic of Ireland" advanced to the UEFA / AFC Intercontinental Play-off:Group 3 - Denmark qualified. "Czech Republic" advanced to the UEFA Play-offs.:Group 4 - Sweden qualified. "Turkey" advanced to the UEFA Play-offs.:Group 5 - Poland qualified. "Ukraine" advanced to the UEFA Play-offs.:Group 6 - Croatia qualified. "Belgium" advanced to the UEFA Play-offs.:Group 7 - Spain qualified. "Austria" advanced to the UEFA Play-offs.:Group 8 - Italy qualified. "Romania" advanced to the UEFA Play-offs.:Group 9 - England qualified. "Germany" advanced to the UEFA Play-offs.:Play-offs - Belgium, Germany, Slovenia and Turkey qualified over "Czech Republic", "Ukraine", "Romania", and "Austria" respectively.
*South America (CONMEBOL):Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil and Paraguay qualified. "Uruguay" advanced to the CONMEBOL / OFC Intercontinental Play-off.
*North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF):Costa Rica, Mexico and USA qualified.
*Africa (CAF):Group 1 - Cameroon qualified.:Group 2 - Nigeria qualified.:Group 3 - Senegal qualified.:Group 4 - Tunisia qualified.:Group 5 - South Africa qualified.
*Asia (AFC):Group A - Saudi Arabia qualified. "Iran" advanced to the AFC Play-off.:Group B - China PR qualified. "United Arab Emirates" advanced to the AFC Play-off.:Play-off - "Iran" advanced to the UEFA / AFC Intercontinental Play-off over "United Arab Emirates".
*Oceania (OFC):"Australia" advanced to the CONMEBOL / OFC Intercontinental Play-off.

Intercontinental Play-offs

The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would qualify.

UEFA / AFC Intercontinental Play-off

footballbox
date = 2001-11-10
time = 18:00 UTC
team1 = fb-rt|IRL
score = 2 – 0
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=4395/preliminaries/preliminary=8021/matches/match=24849/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|IRN
goals1 = Harte goal|44
Keane goal|50
goals2 =
stadium = Lansdowne Road, Dublin
attendance = 36538
referee = Pereira da Silva ----footballbox
date = 2001-11-15
time = 17:30
team1 = fb-rt|IRN
score = 1 – 0
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=4395/preliminaries/preliminary=8021/matches/match=24850/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|IRL
goals1 = Gohmohammadi goal|90
goals2 =
stadium = Azadi Stadium, Tehran
attendance = 100,000
referee = Mattus

"Republic of Ireland qualified by the aggregate score of 2–1."

CONMEBOL / OFC Intercontinental Play-off

footballbox
date = 2001-11-20
time = 20:15 UTC+11
team1 = fb-rt|AUS
score = 1 – 0
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=4395/preliminaries/preliminary=8024/matches/match=24861/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|URU
goals1 = Muscat goal|78|pen.
goals2 =
stadium = Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
attendance = 84,656
referee = Cesari (Italy)----footballbox
date = 2001-11-25
time = 16:00 UTC-2
team1 = fb-rt|URU
score = 3 – 0
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=4395/preliminaries/preliminary=8024/matches/match=24860/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|AUS
goals1 = Silva goal|14
Morales goal|70 goal|90
goals2 =
stadium = Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
attendance = 62,000
referee = Bujsaim

"Uruguay qualified by the aggregate score of 3–1."

Qualified teams

(h) - qualified automatically as co-hosts

(c) - qualified automatically as defending champions

¹Includes 10 appearances by DFB representing West Germany between 1954 and 1990.

²Excludes appearances by USSR. If those are counted together, this is their 9th appearance.

Notes

*Togolese Souleymane Mamam became the youngest player ever to play in a World Cup qualifying match at the age of 13 years and 310 days in Lomé in May 2001.

*Australia netted 31 goals against newcomers American Samoa, setting the record of the highest-scoring match and biggest margin victory ever. This was only two days after Australia thrashed Tonga 22-0, a then international record. Also, Archie Thompson’s 13 goals in the match against American Samoa surpassed the previous record of 10.

*The fastest-ever hat-trick in an "A" international was set when Abdel Hamid of Egypt needed only 177 seconds to bag his three goals in a game against Namibia.

*Switzerland's Kubilay Türkyilmaz scored a hat trick exclusively from penalties against the Faroe Islands. Brazil's Ronaldo equalled this against Argentina in his team's 3-1 win in the 2006 World Cup qualifying round.

External links

* [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/pwc/q/2002.html FIFA World Cup Official Site - 2002 World Cup Qualification]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tables/2002q.html RSSSF - 2002 World Cup Qualification]