A rematch of a recent Men's World Cup final was arranged on TUE 27 JUN 2006. more...

Perhaps the two most compelling groups came to their surprising conclusions on THU 22 JUN 2006. more...

Few teams saw their second round uncertainty resolved on SUN 18 JUN 2006. more...

There were two surprising comebacks in one match, a repeat of recent history, and a cracking goal on TUE 13 JUN 2006. more...

FIFA have unveiled the rosters for the 32 teams at the 2006 Men's World Cup. The squad lists, submitted by the coaches MON 15 MAY 2006, include World Cup stalwarts like Kasey KELLER of the United States and CAFÚ of Brazil, plus newcomers like England's Theo WALCOTT and Argentina's Lionel MESSI. Nearly half of the players are professionals for clubs in England, Italy, Spain, France, or Germany, including 103 from the English league system. Each team may make changes to its official roster until 24 hours before its first match.

Brazil's RONALDINHO made it two years in a row as he collected the 2005 FIFA Men's World Player of the Year award. The tally was even more convincing than the recent Ballon d'Or vote, which also went Ronaldinho's way. This time, he earned 956 points to put away England's Frank LAMPARD [306 points] and Cameroon's Samuel ETO'O [190].

The final draw for the 2006 Men's World Cup paired up several well known opponents, starting in Group B, where for the second straight World Cup, England will face Sweden in the first round. In Group G, qualifying rivals France and Switzerland, who battled in UEFA Group 4, meet again. Brazil, Australia, and Japan, who regularly meet at Confederations Cup tournaments, are together again in Group F. But the consensus Group of Death is likely to be Group C, made up of Argentina, Côte d’Ivoire, Serbia-Montenegro, and the Netherlands. The tournament's opening match will be Germany-Costa Rica, FRI 09 JUN 2006 in München. more...

The 2006 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee has settled on the pots to be used in the final draw. The top eight seeds were decided using a formula that includes performance at France 1998 and Korea/Japan 2002, as well as the FIFA World Rankings over the past three years. Hence, Brazil, England, Spain, Germany, Mexico, France, Argentina, and Italy have made the cut; the United States fell 1.4 points short. Germany are atop Group A, Brazil lead Group F, and the other seeded teams are in Pot 1. Pot 2 contains CAF, OFC, and the other CONMEBOL teams, Pot 3 features eight of the remaining UEFA teams, and Pot 4 includes AFC and the other CONCACAF teams. Finally, Serbia-Montenegro, as the lowest ranked UEFA side, are in a special pot and must be in either Argentina's, Brazil's, or Mexico's group.

RONALDINHO ran away with the vote for the 2005 Ballon d'Or, the European Footballer of the Year award given by France Football magazine. The Brazil midfielder/forward, who stars for Barcelona, totalled 225 points in the voting, well ahead of two England players, Frank LAMPARD of Chelsea [148 points] and Steven GERRARD of Liverpool [142].

The other superpower made it official in CONMEBOL on the weekend of SAT 03-SUN 04 SEP 2005. more...

The 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship was Argentina's party as they won the final 2-1 against Nigeria in Utrecht, Netherlands. Lionel MESSI not only earned Argentina's two penalties, he converted each personally, his fifth and sixth of the tournament. In addition to the Golden Boot, he also earned the Golden Ball as the tournament's top player. Brazil won the third place match 2-1 against Morocco.

Brazil defeated archrivals Argentina 4-1 to claim the 2005 Confederations Cup title at the Waldstadion in Frankfurt, Germany. ADRIANO scored twice, making him the tournament's leading scorer with five goals, as KAKÁ and RONALDINHO added the other Brazilian goals. It is the Verdeamarelhos' second time winning the tournament, which brings together the champions of the six confederations plus the Men's World Cup holders. In the third place match, Michael BALLACK scored in overtime to earn Germany a 4-3 win over Mexico.

One place in Germany 2006 was claimed in CONMEBOL TUE 07-WED 08 JUN 2005. more...

A quick summary of action around CONMEBOL on the weekend of SAT 04-SUN 05 JUN 2005. more...

A quick summary of action around the CONMEBOL group phase on TUE 29-WED 30 MAR 2005. more...

Carlos TÉVEZ of Argentina has been selected as the Best Latin American Footballer of 2004. The 20 year old forward led Argentina to second place in the 2004 Copa América and to Olympic gold at Athens 2004, capping the year with a Copa Sudamericana title with Boca Juniors. It is his second straight time leading the annual poll of journalists conducted by Montevideo newspaper El País. Argentina midfielder Javier MASCHERANO was second, and third place was shared between Brazil's ROBINHO and Argentina's Luis GONZÁLEZ.