Two tournament favourites moved on to a quarterfinal meeting on SAT 24 JUN 2006. more...

Old and new stars scored, and a new milestone was reached, on WED 20 SEP 2006. more...

The mystery was drawn out of one group, but another was further muddled, on THU 15 JUN 2006. more...

All three matches involved a late goal – some more important than others – on WED 14 JUN 2006. more...

Ecuador served notice to Group A favourites Germany as the 2006 Men's World Cup opened. 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.

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.

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.

Brazil's RONALDINHO tallied 620 points, including 89 out of 302 first place votes, to earn FIFA's World Player of the Year award for 2004. The Barcelona midfielder/forward is the fourth Brazilian to win the title, following ROMÁRIO [1994], RONALDO [1996-7, 2002], and RIVALDO [1999]. France's Thierry HENRY finished second, followed by the Ukraine's Andriy SHEVCHENKO. On the women's side, Birgit PRINZ of Germany won for the second straight year, edging Mia HAMM of the United States and MARTA of Brazil.

The FIFA World Cup Organising Committee has decided to place Germany in the opening match at the 2006 Men's World Cup. This will represent the first time the host nation plays the Men's World Cup opener since Mexico and the Soviet Union drew 0-0 on SUN 31 MAY 1970 in the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. The Germany 2006 opener will be FRI 09 JUN 2006 at FIFA WM Stadion in München.