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In total 32 teams from around the world will be battling it out in 2006 to become the best in the world.
Since the second World Cup in 1934, qualifying tournaments have been held to thin the field for the final tournament. They are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Europe), overseen by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides the number of places awarded to each of the continental zones beforehand, generally based on the relative strength of the confederations' teams, but also subject to lobbying from the confederations. The qualification process can start as early as almost three years before the final tournament, and last over a two-year period. The formats of the qualification tournaments differ between confederations. Usually, one or two places are awarded to winners of Intercontinental Play-offs. For example, the winner of the Oceanian zone and the fifth-placed team from the South American zone entered a play-off to decide which team would qualify for the 2006 World Cup [11]. From the 1938 World Cup onwards, host nations have received an automatic berth in the finals. This right also used to be granted to the defending champion, but from the 2006 finals onwards, this entitlement has been withdrawn, requiring the champions to qualify as well.
The current finals tournament features 32 national teams competing over a month in the host nation(s). There are two stages, a group stage and a knockout stage. In the first stage (the group stage), teams are drawn into eight groups of four. Eight teams are seeded at the draw (based on both current FIFA World Rankings and recent World Cups), and assigned a group. The other teams are drawn at random. Since 1998, constraints have applied to the draw to ensure that no group contains more than two European teams or more than one team from any other confederation. Each group plays a round-robin tournament, guaranteeing that every qualifying nation will play at least three matches. The last round of matches of each group are held simultaneously to prevent collusion between nations. Since 1994, three points have been awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss (prior to this, winners only received two points). The top two teams from each group advance to the second stage (the knockout stage). If two or more teams finish level on points, tie-breakers are used: first is goal difference, then total goals scored, then head-to-head results, and finally drawing of lots.[13] The knockout stage is a single-elimination round in which teams play each other in one-off matches, with extra time and penalty shootouts used to decide the winner. In the Round of 16, the winner of each group plays against the runner-up from another group. This is followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final. The losing semi-finalists contest a third place match.
Successful national teams
In all, 207 teams have competed to qualify for the World Cup Finals, and 78 nations have qualified at least once. Of these, only eleven have made it to the final match, and only seven have won. This exclusivity inspires much enthusiasm and national pride amongst the tournament's fans. With five victories out of its seven appearances in the final match, Brazil is the most successful World Cup team. It is also the only nation to have participated in every World Cup Finals tournament so far. At the continental level, South America narrowly leads Europe with nine titles to eight. Brazil and Germany are tied for most appearances in the final match with 7 (Brazil has won 5; Germany has won 3). Brazil and Italy were finalists each challenging for their 3rd cup in 1970 and for their 4th cup in 1994. In both matches, Brazil won. The seven national teams that have won the World Cup have added stars to the crest, located on their shirt, each star representing a World Cup victory.
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