A total of 12 German cities have been selected to host the World Cup final tournament. The stadium capacities shown are all seated capacities. Many of the stadiums have higher capacities for German domestic football matches as some of the seats are replaced with terraces.
1During the World Cup, many of the stadiums will be officially known by different names, as FIFA prohibits sponsorship of stadium names. For example, Allianz Arena will be known during the competition as "FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich" (or in German: "FIFA WM-Stadion München"). These new names are reflected in the table. Of the twelve hosting stadia, all but one (Leipzig) are in the former West Germany.
Starting from Germany 2006, the winner of the past World Cup had to qualify for the Finals. Only the host nation qualifies automatically from 2006 on.
The following teams, shown by region, have qualified. The number in brackets is the country's FIFA World Rankings as of December 2005, at the end of all qualification tournaments, when rankings were one of the factors taken into consideration when assigning pots for each of the teams [1]:
The main surprises in European qualification were the absences of 2002 third-place finishers Turkey (eliminated by Switzerland after a momentous playoff), 2004 European Champions Greece (eliminated by the Ukraine), and established sides Denmark (eliminated by the Ukraine as well), Russia (eliminated by Portugal), and Belgium (eliminated by Serbia-Montenegro and Spain). In Africa, 2002 quarter-finalists Senegal (eliminated by Togo) and established sides South Africa, Cameroon, and Nigeria (eliminated, respectively, by Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, and Angola) unexpectedly missed the trip to the Finals. The other zones saw no major upsets.
While representing Oceania, from the beginning of 2006 Australia is part of the Asian Confederation, and will represent Asia in following World Cups.
Groups
The seeded teams for the 2006 cup were announced on December 5, 2005. By prior agreement, Germany was seeded into Pot A, the group of seeded teams (determined by World rankings and previous performances in the two most recent World Cups). The unseeded teams were divided into Pots B-D, according to geography, as follows:
Pot B contained the five African entries, as well as Ecuador, Paraguay, and Australia; Pot C contained 8 of the 9 remaining European sides, excluding Serbia and Montenegro. Pot D contained sides from Asia and the CONCACAF region. A special pot contained Serbia and Montenegro, and the three non-European seeded teams: this was done to ensure that no group contained 3 European teams. In the special pot, Serbia and Montenegro (white ball) was drawn first, then their group was drawn (black ball) from the three seeded non-European nations, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.
On December 9, 2005 the draw was held and the group assignments announced. After the draw was completed, many football commentators remarked that Group E and/or Group C appeared to be the groups of death in the Cup (see Guardian and FOX Sports articles).
The vocal group Il Divo featuring R&B singer Toni Braxton will sing the official song "A Time of Our Lives" [2] and the official album will be released in May 2006.
