2002 FIFA World Cup qualification

197 teams took part in the

qualification rounds, divided in 6 Continental Zones, every team trying to snatch a place in the first Football World Cup realized in Asia. Unfortunately for them, only 32 places were available - and 3 of them were already taken by the defending champions and the co-hosts. Those 32 places would be distributed as follows:

• Europe (UEFA): 50 teams competing for 13.5 places. France, the defending champions, were already qualified, for a total of 14.5 places.
• South America (CONMEBOL): 10 teams competing for 4.5 places.
• North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 36 teams competing for 3 places.
• Asia (AFC): 40 teams competing for 2.5 places. Japan and South Korea, the co-hosts, were already qualified, for a total of 4.5 places.
• Africa (CAF): 51 teams competing for 5 places.
• Oceania (OFC): 10 teams competing for 0.5 place.

Overview

The history books now contain some new records too, such as a new goalscoring record both for teams and the fastest-ever hat-trick in an "A". More than 17 million spectators filled the stadia for the games - a new record in itself. Some of the big guns also found the going tough in the early rounds.

In the CONCACAF zone, outsiders Costa Rica stunned everybody by dominating the competition from start to finish. The USA qualified with matches in hand, but needed favourable results from other teams to do so. Pre-tournament favourites Mexico even went into the last match unsure of their destiny, but eventually made it safely over the finishing line. But the Confederation champions, Canada , did not even make it as far as the decisive final round. In South America, Argentina were the top dogs, and left their opponents trailing in their wake. Second place went to Paraguay, just ahead of Ecuador. Brazil, on the other hand, struggled like never before, and eventually qualified with a little help from rivals Uruguay, who slipped up against a surprisingly strong Venezuela, who finished in a commendable position themselves, consigning Peru and Chile to the lower reaches of the table.

Asia was home to a keenly-fought battle for the two automatic places, which were finally secured by China PR and Saudi Arabia, the latter living up to their billing as group favourites. In China, scenes of unbridled joy greeted the news that the national team had qualified for the first time ever. Iran could not repeat their success of 1997, and finally bowed out against Ireland Rep. in the playoff round.

In Africa, it was a case of "how you were", with four of the qualifiers from 1998 (Cameroon, Tunisia, South Africa and Nigeria) coming through once again with flying colours. The final African qualifier stunned the world with their showing in the qualification rounds. Senegal outshone seasoned campaigners such as Egypt and Morocco on their way to the greatest triumph in the nation's footballing history.

In Europe, the major surprise was sprung by the Netherlands. The Dutch team was full of international stars, but they only finished in third place in their group, missing out altogether. Poland, a force in world football in the early Seventies, and a constant presence at the FIFA World Cup™ between 1974 and 1986, announced their return with a glut of goals from a nationalised Nigerian, Emmanuel Olisadebe. Germany, previously untouchable in qualifying rounds, were stunned by arch-rivals England, with Sven-Göran Eriksson's men triumphant in Munich in a 5-1 victory. In the end, Germany came through the play-off round against Ukraine unscathed. EURO 2000 outsiders Slovenia qualified for their second high-profile tournament in succession, while Belgium qualified for the sixth consecutive time, and Turkey succeeded for the first time in 48 years.

Australia's successful year was not crowned in the play-off game against Uruguay, who finished fifth in the South American group. The "Celeste" team from Uruguay finally returned to the world stage after 12 long years in the World Cup wilderness

Continental Zones

To see the dates and results of each game in each Continental Zone, please click one of the following links:

• UEFA qualifications (Europe)
• CONMEBOL qualifications (South America)
• CONCACAF qualifications (North, Central America and Caribbean)
• AFC qualifications (Asia)
• CAF qualifications (Africa)
• OFC qualifications (Oceania)

Intercontinental Play-offs

Some Continental Zones had the right to ".5 place" in the World Cup. This means that a team of that Continental Zone would have to play-off against a team of another Continental Zone, in a home-and-away basis, winner of this play-off qualifying to the World Cup. In the 2002 World Cup qualification rounds, two Intercontinental Play-offs were scheduled:

UEFA vs AFC

A group runner-up from Europe (drawn randomly) vs. winner of a play-off between runners-up of Second Round from Asia.

November 10, 2001, Dublin, Ireland - Template:IRLf 2 - 0 Template:IRNf

November 15, 2001, Teheran, Iran - Template:IRNf 1 - 0 Template:IRLf

Republic of Ireland qualified.

CONMEBOL vs OFC

Fifth ranked team from South America vs. best team from Oceania.

November 20, 2001, Melbourne, Australia - Template:AUSf 1 - 0 Template:URUf

November 25, 2001, Montevideo, Uruguay - Template:URUf 3 - 0 Template:AUSf

Uruguay qualified.

Qualified teams

Team	Appearance	Streak	Previous appearance
Template:ARGf	13th	8	1998
Template:BELf	11th	6	1998
Template:BRAf	17th	17	1998
Template:CMRf	5th	4	1998
Template:CHNf	1st	1	-
Template:CRCf	2nd	1	1990
Template:CROf	2nd(1)	2	1998
Template:DENf	3rd	2	1998
Template:ECUf	1st	1	-
Template:ENGf	11th	2	1998
Template:FRAf (c)	11th	2	1998
Template:GERf	15th(2)	13(2)	1998
Template:IRLf	3rd	1	1994
Template:ITAf	15th	11	1998
Template:JPNf (h)	2nd	2	1998
Template:KORf (h)	6th	5	1998
Template:MEXf	12th	3	1998
Template:NGAf	3rd	3	1998
Template:PARf	6th	2	1998
Template:POLf	6th	1	1986
Template:PORf	3rd	1	1986
Template:RUSf	2nd(3)	1	1994
Template:KSAf	3rd	3	1998
Template:SENf	1st	1	-
Template:SVNf	1st(1)	1	-(1)
Template:RSAf	2nd	2	1998
Template:ESPf	11th	7	1998
Template:SWEf	10th	1	1994
Template:TUNf	3rd	2	1998
Template:TURf	2nd	1	1954
Template:USAf	7th	4	1998
Template:URUf	10th	1	1990

(h) - qualified automatically as co-hosts

(c) - qualified automatically as defending champions

¹Excludes appearances by pre-division Yugoslavia.

²Includes 10 appearances by DFB representing West Germany between 1954 and 1990.

³Excludes appearances by USSR. If those are counted together, this is their 9th appearance.

Facts & Figures

• Togolese Souleymane Mamam became the youngest player ever to take to a World Cup preliminary game field at the tender age of 13 years and 310 days in Lomé in May 2001.

• Another all-time superlative which takes some beating: Australia netted 31 goals against newcomers American Samoa - the highest-scoring match and biggest margin victory ever. Also, Archie Thompson’s 13 goals surpassed the previous record (7) by far.

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

External links

• FIFA World Cup Official Site - 2002 World Cup Qualification
• RSSSF - 2002 World Cup Qualification