The two second round matches on SUN 25 JUN 2006 saw few goals and much animosity. 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...

Two Men's World Cup newcomers held their own against world powers on SAT 10 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].

Six more slots on the Germany 2006 guest list were taken after the UEFA group phase matches on SAT 08 OCT 2005. more...

A quick summary of action around the UEFA group phase on WED 07 SEP 2005. more...

A quick summary of action around the UEFA group phase on WED 30 MAR 2005. more...

Socceroo Tim Cahill has earned the 2004 OFC Player of the Year Award after a season in which he scored seven goals in five matches for Australia. The 25 year old midfielder has also starred with his clubs. His goal in the FA Cup semifinal against Sunderland led Millwall to the cup final against Manchester United. He now plays for Everton, also in England, and has scored six goals in 25 matches. Aussie teammates Mark Schwarzer and Marco Bresciano were second and third, respectively, in the voting.

A quick summary of action around the UEFA group phase on SAT 04 SEP 2004. more...