Football World Cup 2006

Football World Cup 2006
2006 FIFA World Cup Germany
Number of nations	32  (of 198 applicants)
World Champion	Italy (4th title)
venue	Germany
Opening game	June 9, 2006 ( Munich )
Endgame	July 9, 2006 ( Berlin )
Games	64
Gates	147  (⌀: 2.3 per game)
spectator	3,359,439  (⌀: 52,491 per game)
Top scorer	Miroslav Klose (5 goals)
Best player	Zinedine Zidane
Best goalkeeper	Gianluigi Buffon
yellow cards	326  (⌀: 5.09 per game)
Yellow-red cards	19  (⌀: 0.3 per game)
Red cards	9  (⌀: 0.14 per game)

The final round of the FIFA World Cup 2006 ( English FIFA World Cup ) was the 18th edition of the most important tournament for football - teams and took place from 9 June to 9 July 2006 and by 1974 for the second time in Germany instead.

Italy won the final by beating France on penalties , becoming world champions for the fourth time since 1934, 1938 and 1982. Third place went to Germany's team , who also set the top scorer in Miroslav Klose , who scored five goals during the tournament.

In terms of football, the tournament was mainly characterized by tactics and athletics. Relatively few goals were scored, especially from the round of 16. The four-week summer weather and the enthusiasm of spectators and hosts nevertheless ensured a lively atmosphere in the stands, at the public viewing and around the World Cup, which was held in Germany based on Heine's poem Germany. A winter fairy tale is retrospectively referred to as a " German summer fairy tale ". The world championship was held under the motto The world as a guest of friends .

candidacy

The idea for Germany to apply to host the 18th World Cup came about at a meeting of the DFB executive committee in November 1992. Since then, the then DFB President Egidius Braun and the then DFB press spokesman Wolfgang Niersbach have been campaigning intensively for support in their own country and with friendly associations. At the end of 1996, Franz Beckenbauer was won over as World Cup ambassador. Beckenbauer was head of the German bid committee from 1998 and, as such, also presented FIFA President Sepp Blatter with the association's official declaration of intent to host the World Cup.

In the final vote on the venue on July 6, 2000, Germany prevailed against Brazil , Morocco , England and ultimately in the final in Zurich with twelve to eleven votes against South Africa . A fake bribery fax from the German satirical magazine Titanic , which, according to the latter's own statement, led to the decisive abstention of the New Zealand representative of FIFA, Charles Dempsey , was possibly decisive for the proportion of votes . This had actually been asked by his association to vote for South Africa. In that case, President Blatter's vote would have tipped the balance in favor of South Africa. Exactly what prompted Dempsey to abstain is controversial. In one of the few interviews that followed, he spoke of “pressure from influential European interest groups”, citing the main reason: “The main reason for my decision was that my colleagues whispered that I would take money from the South African delegation. I wanted to counter this by abstaining. "

Results of the vote

country	Round 1	round 2	Round 3
Germany	10	11	12th
South Africa	06th	11	11
England	05	02	-
Morocco	03	-	-

The motto of the 1997 application was "See you in the heart of Europe". The motto for the final round was announced on November 19, 2002: “ The world as a guest of friends ”. It should express the attachment of the Germans to the sport and their hospitality. The Celebrating Faces of Football was chosen as the logo .

According to a report by Spiegel (advance notification dated October 16, 2015), the 2006 World Cup was “presumably bought” .

Venues

Hamburg Hanover Gelsenkirchen Frankfurt am Main Stuttgart Munich Dortmund Berlin Kaiserslautern Leipzig Nuremberg Cologne

Venues 2006 in Germany

Football fans from all over the world are welcomed at the Dortmund fan meeting point “Stadion am Bahnhof”.

The World Cup games were played in twelve stadiums in twelve different German cities. When awarding the stadiums, the most modern and safest stadiums in Germany should be selected and nationwide distribution across Germany ensured. A total of fifteen cities applied to host the event. Among the candidates came Dusseldorf ( LTU Arena ), Bremen ( Weserstadion ) and Mönchengladbach ( Borussia-Park ) not to the course, even if the arenas were quite WM-compatible. The selected stadiums were either expanded and modernized or completely rebuilt in the run-up to the World Cup. All stadiums that had a sponsor in their name were renamed the FIFA World Cup Stadium during the World Cup to highlight the FIFA sponsors. The names of the other stadiums remained unchanged.

The total capacity of the twelve World Cup stadiums was 623,000 seats, which corresponds to an average of around 52,000 spectators per stadium. Due to the stricter security regulations of FIFA compared to games in the Bundesliga , all stadiums held significantly fewer seats than before and after the World Cup. Four group matches and at least one round of 16 or quarter-finals were played at all venues of the World Cup.

• Berlin : In the Berlin Olympic Stadium , the home stadium of Hertha BSC and the largest World Cup stadium with a capacity of 72,000, four group games, a quarter-final game and the final were played. A total of 429,000 viewers saw the six games, an average of 71,500. It was sold out five times, only in the final between Italy and France there were 3,000 fewer spectators.
• Dortmund : The Westfalenstadion , during the World Cup FIFA World Cup Stadium Dortmund , had a capacity of 65,000 seats, but is the largest stadium in Germany as Signal Iduna Park when it is in regular operation . The home of Borussia Dortmund was the venue for four group matches as well as one eighth and one semi-final match. A total of 387,959 viewers saw the six games, an average of 64,660. It was sold out five times, only for the game between Trinidad and Tobago and Sweden about 2000 fewer spectators.
• Frankfurt am Main : In the FIFA World Cup Stadium Frankfurt , home of Eintracht Frankfurt , 48,000 spectators were able to watch the games during the FIFA events. The old Waldstadion was completely rebuilt while operations continued and renamed the Commerzbank-Arena in 2005 . It was the venue for four group matches and one quarter-final match. The stadium was sold out five times, so that 240,000 spectators saw the games in the Frankfurt stadium.
• Gelsenkirchen : The FIFA World Cup Stadium in Gelsenkirchen is the home stadium of the FC Schalke 04 football club . The Veltins-Arena , which opened as Arena AufSchalke in August 2001 , had 52,000 seats during the tournament and was the venue for four group matches and a quarter-final match. The Gelsenkirchen stadium was also sold out for all five games and so 260,000 spectators saw the games in the arena.
• Hamburg : In the FIFA World Cup Stadium Hamburg , the home of Hamburger SV , 50,000 spectators were able to watch the World Cup games. The Volksparkstadion , which was built from the Volksparkstadion built in 1953 , was then called the AOL Arena and was the venue for four group matches and a quarter-final match. Only the game Argentina against Ivory Coast was not completely sold out, otherwise all the games, so that 249,480 people watched the games in Hamburg.
• Hanover : The FIFA World Cup Stadium Hanover , home of the Hannover 96 football club , had space for 43,000 spectators during the World Cup. The former Lower Saxony stadium was rebuilt and inaugurated as the AWD arena on January 23, 2005 . It was the venue for four group matches and one round of 16, all of which were sold out. Thus, the number of spectators in Hanover was 215,000.
• Kaiserslautern : 1. FC Kaiserslautern welcomes its guests in the Fritz Walter Stadium during regular league operations . At the World Cup finals, the stadium's capacity was reduced to 46,000. It was the venue for four group matches and one match in the round of 16. 230,000 spectators saw the games in the stadium, which was always sold out.
• Cologne : In the FIFA World Cup Stadium Cologne , the home of 1. FC Cologne , five World Cup games took place. The converted Müngersdorfer Stadium is usually named after the regional electricity supplier Rheinenergiestadion , had 46,134 spectators during the World Cup and was the venue for four group matches and one round of 16. Each of the five games attracted 45,000 spectators, a total of 225,000.
• Leipzig : The central stadium was the venue for FC Sachsen Leipzig . A modern, pure football stadium was built into the old stadium wall from 2000 and officially opened on July 17, 2004. During the 2006 World Cup it had a seating capacity of 43,000 and was the venue for four group matches and one round of 16. Only the game between Iran and Angola was not sold out; there was still room for 5,000 spectators. So there were a total of 210,000.
• Munich : The Allianz Arena ( FIFA World Cup Stadium Munich ) was the second largest stadium of the World Cup with 66,000 seats, was opened on May 30, 2005, and is used by FC Bayern Munich . The TSV 1860 München resigned from sharing 2017th It was the venue for four group matches, including the opening match, as well as a round of 16 and a semi-final match. The games, which were sold out six times, saw a total of 396,000 spectators.
• Nuremberg : 41,000 spectators were able to watch the World Cup games in the Frankenstadion , the home of 1. FC Nuremberg . The sports facility was renamed Easycredit Stadium on March 15, 2006 , although the old name was used for the time of the World Cup. It was the venue for four group matches and a round of 16, which were watched by a total of 205,000 spectators from the fully occupied seats.
• Stuttgart : The football club VfB Stuttgart plays its home games in the former Gottlieb Daimler Stadium (now: Mercedes-Benz Arena ) . At the World Cup, the audience capacity was 52,000. It is true that the name of the stadium referred to the automobile manufacturer Daimler AG (then DaimlerChrysler), who then as now owned the naming rights to the stadium. However, it was named after Gottlieb Daimler and not after the company, which is why the name was recognized by FIFA. Stuttgart hosted four group matches, a round of 16 and the third place match between Germany and Portugal. 312,000 spectators saw the games in the fully occupied Stuttgart stadium.

• 

  Olympiastadion Berlin
  (Olympiastadion)
  Location: Berlin
  Capacity: 72,000
  Club: Hertha BSC

• 

  Allianz Arena
  (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich)
  Location: Munich
  Capacity: 66,000
  Club: FC Bayern Munich

• 

  Westfalenstadion
  (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Dortmund)
  Location: Dortmund
  Capacity: 65,000
  Club: Borussia Dortmund

• 

  Gottlieb Daimler Stadium
  (Gottlieb Daimler Stadium, Stuttgart)
  Location: Stuttgart
  Capacity: 52,000
  Club: VfB Stuttgart

• 

  AOL Arena
  (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Hamburg)
  Location: Hamburg
  Capacity: 50,000
  Club: Hamburger SV

• 

  Commerzbank-Arena
  (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Frankfurt)
  Location: Frankfurt
  Capacity: 48,000
  Club: Eintracht Frankfurt

• 

  Rheinenergiestadion
  (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Cologne)
  Location: Cologne
  Capacity: 46,134
  Club: 1. FC Cologne

• 

  Fritz-Walter-Stadion
  (Fritz-Walter-Stadion)
  Location: Kaiserslautern
  Capacity: 46,000
  Club: 1. FC Kaiserslautern

• 

  AWD-Arena
  (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Hanover)
  Location: Hanover
  Capacity: 43,000
  Club: Hanover 96

• 

  Zentralstadion
  (Central Stadium)
  Location: Leipzig
  Capacity: 43,000
  Club: FC Sachsen Leipzig

• 

  Easycredit Stadium
  (Frankenstadion)
  Location: Nürnberg
  Capacity: 41,000
  Club: 1. FC Nürnberg

qualification

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2006 / Qualification

The qualification for the World Cup in 2006 lasted from September 6, 2003 to November 16, 2005. 197 of 204 associations had started in the World Cup qualification, only 31 teams remained in the end. For the first time, the reigning world champion (in this case Brazil ) was not automatically qualified for the finals. Germany, on the other hand, was the host and completed the field of finalists. In six zones, the 31 participants (plus the directly qualified host) were determined as follows:

Europe had thirteen starting places at the World Cup, plus host Germany . The winners of the eight qualifying groups and the two best runners-up were able to qualify directly for the World Cup in Germany. The six remaining runners-up wore on 12./16. November 2005 in the first and second legs ("play-off games") the decision for the three remaining European representatives.

South America had four direct starting places. Ten teams played against each other with a round trip, the best four were directly qualified for the World Cup. The fifth had the chance to make it to the finals in two qualifying games against the winner from Oceania . Uruguay could not prevail this time in the relegation against Australia .

The Football Association of North and Central America and the Caribbean , CONCACAF , had three direct starting places. The qualification there was divided into three phases. Twelve participants from the first round qualified for the second round. Then the game was continued in three groups of four. The first two in each group advanced to the third round. These six teams played from February 9 to October 12, 2005 in a group against each other with a return leg. The three best were directly qualified. The fourth of the CONCACAF competed in a back and forth duel against the fifth from Asia .

In the Africa zone, all 52 associations except Djibouti had registered for the preliminary round. The five African participants in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the four best-placed African teams in the FIFA world rankings of 25 June 2003 advanced straight to the second round. The remaining 42 teams were drawn against each other, the 21 winners from the first and second leg also advanced to the second round. The 30 teams in the second round were divided into five groups of six, the group winners of which qualified for the World Cup.

Asia played with a total of 32 teams, which were divided into eight groups. Seven of the 32 teams had to qualify for the second round against seven other teams in the first and second leg. The eight group winners reached the third round (February 9 to August 17, 2005), which was held in two groups of four. The first and the second of these two groups qualified directly. The two thirds played against each other, the winner then played two finals against the fourth from CONCACAF for participation in the finals. In these games, Bahrain was defeated against the team from Trinidad and Tobago .

Oceania did not have a direct launch site. Six teams remained after the first round; these played a simple everyone-versus-everyone round. The first and second placed met on September 3 and September 6, 2005 in the "play-off" against each other. The winner met the fifth from South America (also in return leg).

Attendees

The following 32 national teams from the respective continental associations ultimately qualified for the final round:

14 from Europe	Germany	England	France	Italy	Croatia
	Netherlands	Poland	Portugal	Sweden	Switzerland
	Serbia and Montenegro	Spain	Czech Republic	Ukraine
4 from South America	Argentina	Brazil	Ecuador	Paraguay
4 from North, Central America and the Caribbean	Costa Rica	Mexico	Trinidad and Tobago	United States
5 from Africa	Angola	Ivory Coast	Ghana	Togo	Tunisia
4 from Asia	Iran	Japan	Saudi Arabia	South Korea
1 from Oceania	Australia

For the first time, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Angola, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Trinidad and Tobago took part in a final round of the World Cup.

World map of the participants with their placements

draw

The final draw, in which the final pairings were determined, took place on December 9, 2005 in Leipzig .

Lottery pots

For the draw, the qualified teams were divided into four pots. The assignment was based on a decision by FIFA on December 6th. A seeding list was used as the basis, taking into account the results of the last two World Cup tournaments and the positions in the world rankings for the past three years.

Pot 1

Germany (host), Brazil (defending champion), Italy, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Mexico

Pot 2

Ivory Coast, Angola, Ghana, Togo, Tunisia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Australia

Pot 3

Switzerland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Netherlands, Croatia, Sweden, Portugal, Poland

Special pot

Serbia and Montenegro

Pot 4

South Korea, Japan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, USA, Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica

special cases

• Germany and Brazil were set as the heads of groups A and F.
• From Pot 2 Paraguay and Ecuador were not drawn to Brazil or Argentina in order to prevent South American duels in the group stage.
• The team from Serbia and Montenegro was a special case. As the worst European participant, she was assigned to a group with Brazil, Argentina or Mexico to avoid a group with three European teams.
• Since Serbia and Montenegro were not drawn into the Mexico group, Mexico was given an Asian team specifically so that two CONCACAF teams do not end up in one group.

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Germany	England	Argentina	Mexico
Costa Rica	Paraguay	Ivory Coast	Iran
Poland	Trinidad and Tobago	Serbia and Montenegro	Angola
Ecuador	Sweden	Netherlands	Portugal
Group E	Group F.	Group G	Group H.
Italy	Brazil	France	Spain
Ghana	Croatia	Switzerland	Ukraine
United States	Australia	South Korea	Tunisia
Czech Republic	Japan	Togo	Saudi Arabia

For information on the individual World Cup groups and squads of the teams, click on the respective link.

Rules and game mode

In the run-up to the tournament, the following changes to the game and tournament rules were decided by the world association FIFA.

Evaluation of fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct

• In the tournament, slipping into the opponent's legs should be consistently punished with a red card . So far, this rule only applied to slides "from behind", i.e. in those cases in which the fouled player could not perceive the opponent until the attack.
• Likewise, blows with the elbow, as they occur in particular in header duels, should be directly punished with a dismissal. Previously, the referee had a margin of appreciation here as well.
• In addition, FIFA stipulated that holding the ball before a free kick by the opposing team should be punished with a yellow card .

Game mode

First 32 teams competed in eight groups with four participants each and then in a knockout system . Within each group, each team played against each other team. The first two teams qualified for the round of 16. The teams were placed in the groups in the following order:

1. Number of points (win: 3 points; draw: 1 point; defeat: 0 points),
2. in the event of a tie, goal difference from all three games;
3. if the goal difference is the same, the number of goals scored in all three games;
4. with the same number of goals scored in all three games, the number of points in a direct comparison of the teams with the same points;
5. with the same number of points in a direct comparison, the goal difference in a direct comparison;
6. with the same goal difference in a direct comparison, the number of goals scored in a direct comparison;
7. the lot.

World Cup turf in the Fritz Walter Stadium

After the group stage, two teams from the same group could only meet again in the final (or in the game for third place); at some previous world championships this was already possible in the semifinals and occurred three times. After the golden goal , the silver goal has now also been abolished. Now, for the first time since the 1994 World Cup , an extension lasted 15 minutes twice.

race

For the tournament, the same grass mixture was used in all twelve stadiums, which was ensured by the “grass competence team”. It was produced by two companies from Hessen and the Netherlands and consisted of 25% ryegrass and 75% meadow panicle . The lawn was trimmed to a height of 28 millimeters five hours before the start of the game. On the part of the players and coaches, the lawn has been criticized several times as too dry and dull. It is comparatively common for players to slip on the pitch during games.

Cue ball

The match ball of the tournament was the team spirit , which, like the equipment for the referees, was produced by World Cup sponsor Adidas . It was officially presented as part of the final draw on December 9, 2005 in Leipzig. In the final of the world championship, a gold version of the device was used; World champion Italy was allowed to use the + team spirit Berlin for the next four years in international matches.

The main difference between the ball and the classic soccer balls, which are made up of twelve pentagons and 20 hexagons, is its geometric shape. The + team spirit , on the other hand, consisted of 14 tongue-like plastic parts and thus offered only a slight deviation from an ideal sphere. According to some experts, a consequence of this new type of construction was the large number of long-distance goals during the tournament, which were attributed to the changed flight characteristics of the ball.

Group stage

Group A

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Germany	3	3	0	0	008: 200	+6	09
2.	Ecuador	3	2	0	1	005: 300	+2	06th
3.	Poland	3	1	0	2	002: 400	−2	03
4th	Costa Rica	3	0	0	3	003: 900	−6	00

Fri, June 9, 2006, 6 p.m. in Munich
Germany	-	Costa Rica	4: 2 (2: 1)
Fri, June 9, 2006, 9 p.m. in Gelsenkirchen
Poland	-	Ecuador	0: 2 (0: 1)
Wed, June 14, 2006, 9 p.m. in Dortmund
Germany	-	Poland	1: 0 (0: 0)
Thursday, June 15, 2006, 3 p.m. in Hamburg
Ecuador	-	Costa Rica	3: 0 (1: 0)
Tue, June 20, 2006, 4 p.m. in Berlin
Ecuador	-	Germany	0: 3 (0: 2)
Tue, June 20, 2006, 4 p.m. in Hanover
Costa Rica	-	Poland	1: 2 (1: 1)

World Cup opening ceremony before the game Germany - Costa Rica in Munich

For the first time since 1970, the German team was able to win all group games again. Already in the opening game the team surprised with a very offensive style of play and high speed. The defensive problems that still existed in the 4-2 win against Costa Rica were largely compensated for in the other two group games. Already in the game against Poland, the team found their defensive strength back and largely dominated the game. The goal to the 1-0 success, however, fell only in stoppage time. In their last group game, the DFB-Elf then showed their best performance so far, dominated the opponent from Ecuador, who, however, did not use five players in the first two games, and moved into the second round as group winners.

The quality of the team from Ecuador was not easy to assess before the start of the tournament. For many it was surprising that they convinced in the first two group games with a very compact style of play. Both against Poland and against Costa Rica they scored the two opening goals in the first half hour and were able to control their opponents to a large extent. In the final group game, many regular players were spared for the round of 16, so the team had no chance against Germany.

Like four years before, the Polish team could not meet the high expectations. The surprising opening defeat against Ecuador was followed by an unfortunate defeat against Germany, so that already after the second group match day the end was certain. After all, the World Cup ended with a success against Costa Rica and the resulting third place in the group.

Costa Rica was only able to keep up with its opponents in places in the opening game. There, Paulo Wanchope was particularly noticeable, who was able to outsmart the German defense twice. The team was clearly inferior, especially against Ecuador, and they ended up losing against Poland. Without any points, you finally said goodbye to the world championship as the bottom of the group.

Group B

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	England	3	2	1	0	005: 200	+3	07th
2.	Sweden	3	1	2	0	003: 200	+1	05
3.	Paraguay	3	1	0	2	002: 200	± 0	03
4th	Trinidad and Tobago	3	0	1	2	000: 400	−4	01

Sat, June 10, 2006, 3 p.m. in Frankfurt
England	-	Paraguay	1: 0 (1: 0)
Sat, June 10, 2006, 6 p.m. in Dortmund
Trinidad and Tobago	-	Sweden	0-0
Thursday, June 15, 2006, 6 p.m. in Nuremberg
England	-	Trinidad and Tobago	2: 0 (0: 0)
Thursday, June 15, 2006, 9 p.m. in Berlin
Sweden	-	Paraguay	1: 0 (0: 0)
Tue, June 20, 2006, 9 p.m. in Cologne
Sweden	-	England	2: 2 (0: 1)
Tue, June 20, 2006, 9 p.m. in Kaiserslautern
Paraguay	-	Trinidad and Tobago	2: 0 (1: 0)

Group B favorite was England. They won the first game with an early own goal by the opponent from Paraguay. In the second game, too, the English struggled against Trinidad and Tobago and only scored the two goals to make it 2-0 in the closing stages. The English team was only able to convince in the last game against Sweden - but only in the first half. In a high-class game, the English team only conceded the equalizer in the last minutes of the game after Sweden had played strongly in the second half.

The Swedish team started the tournament with a disappointing 0-0 against the blatant outsiders from Trinidad and Tobago. However, Sweden showed a clear improvement a few days later when it was able to win against Paraguay. The goal to make it 1-0 was not made until the closing stages, but before that the best chances had been missed. In the last game against England, the team made it 2-2 to qualify for the round of 16, with their best tournament performance in the second half.

Paraguay started as an insider tip in the tournament, but did not live up to its reputation in any phase. They fell behind early against England with an own goal and could hardly develop dangerous actions on the offensive. The main concern against Sweden was not to lose in order to be able to finish second in the group by beating the outsiders from Trinidad and Tobago. However, the Swedes' late goal broke all dreams of the round of 16, even if they managed to score three points in the last game against Trinidad and Tobago.

Although they were the only team to finish the tournament without their own goals, the team from Trinidad and Tobago was one of the surprises of the World Cup. You could get a point against Sweden, mainly thanks to the strong performance of the substitute keeper Hislop . Against England they were only a few minutes away from another 0-0 and only lost through two late goals. In the last group game against Paraguay it would have taken a victory to have any theoretical chances for the round of 16. Despite the 2-0 defeat, the team was able to travel back home with their heads held high.

Group C

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Argentina	3	2	1	0	008: 100	+7	07th
2.	Netherlands	3	2	1	0	003: 100	+2	07th
3.	Ivory Coast	3	1	0	2	005: 600	−1	03
4th	Serbia and Montenegro	3	0	0	3	002:100	−8	00

Sat, June 10, 2006, 9 p.m. in Hamburg
Argentina	-	Ivory Coast	2: 1 (2: 0)
Sun, June 11, 2006, 3 p.m. in Leipzig
Serbia and Montenegro	-	Netherlands	0: 1 (0: 1)
Fri, June 16, 2006, 3 p.m. in Gelsenkirchen
Argentina	-	Serbia and Montenegro	6: 0 (3: 0)
Fri, June 16, 2006, 6 p.m. in Stuttgart
Netherlands	-	Ivory Coast	2: 1 (2: 1)
Wed, June 21, 2006, 9 p.m. in Frankfurt
Netherlands	-	Argentina	0-0
Wed, June 21, 2006, 9 p.m. in Munich
Ivory Coast	-	Serbia and Montenegro	3: 2 (1: 2)

For many experts, Argentina was the top favorite for the title after the group stage. The South Americans first won one of the best games of the tournament against the strong Ivory Coast team, only to defeat the well-known defensive team from Serbia and Montenegro 6-0 in the second group game. In the last game, a draw against the Netherlands, who also qualified for the second round, was enough for the Albiceleste to win the group.

The Netherlands finished second in the strongest group of the tournament thanks to three concentrated performances. Against Serbia and Montenegro you could achieve the decisive 1-0 after a quarter of an hour and in the second game against Ivory Coast you made the win in the first half. In the final game against Argentina, however, the group win was missed by the 0-0.

Despite three convincing performances, Ivory Coast was eliminated from the tournament in third place. The decisive factor for the defeats was that the Africans fell 2-0 down in all three group matches in the first half. Against the favorites from Argentina and the Netherlands they could only be reduced to 1: 2, against Serbia and Montenegro it was enough to win 3: 2 in the insignificant game for third place in the group.

Serbia and Montenegro showed a disappointing performance during the tournament. Due to the sovereign qualification with only one goal conceded, the team was expected to do a lot even against the three aggressively strong group opponents. While they only lost 1-0 to the Netherlands, the team broke up completely in the debacle against Argentina. The last game against Ivory Coast was lost despite a 2-0 lead. This game was also the last of the Serbian-Montenegrin national team before the division into a Serbian and a Montenegrin selection.

Group D

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Portugal	3	3	0	0	005: 100	+4	09
2.	Mexico	3	1	1	1	004: 300	+1	04th
3.	Angola	3	0	2	1	001: 200	−1	02
4th	Iran	3	0	1	2	002: 600	−4	01

Sun, June 11, 2006, 6 p.m. in Nuremberg
Mexico	-	Iran	3: 1 (1: 1)
So, June 11, 2006, 9 p.m. in Cologne
Angola	-	Portugal	0: 1 (0: 1)
Fri, June 16, 2006, 9 p.m. in Hanover
Mexico	-	Angola	0-0
Sat, June 17, 2006, 3 p.m. in Frankfurt
Portugal	-	Iran	2: 0 (0: 0)
Wed, June 21, 2006, 4 p.m. in Gelsenkirchen
Portugal	-	Mexico	2: 1 (2: 1)
Wed, June 21, 2006, 4 p.m. in Leipzig
Iran	-	Angola	1: 1 (0: 0)

Portugal appeared surprisingly defensive in the group stage. Already in the first group game against the blatant outsider from Angola, the team of coach Scolari only did what was necessary and managed the early 1-0 until the final whistle. Against Iran, the Portuguese had the game under control at all times and were able to celebrate their place in the round of 16 after just two games. It was only in the last game against Mexico that you faced a similarly strong opponent, but you could celebrate the group victory with the 2-1.

Light and shadow alternated at the appearances of Mexico. The arduous 3-1 win against Iran was followed by a disappointing goalless draw against the newcomers to the World Cup from Angola. The Mexicans only showed a strong performance in the 1: 2 defeat against group winners Portugal. However, in addition to a missed penalty, they missed other high-profile chances, so that they ultimately only finished second in the group.

Angola was one of the positive surprises of the tournament. Although the team consisted practically only of players from lower-class European clubs, the team was able to stand up to the opponent in all group games. The 0: 1 against Portugal was followed by a draw against Mexico, so that the Africans could even qualify for the round of 16 in the last game against Iran. Although Angola took the lead in the middle of the second half, the game could not be won and ended 1-1.

Iran remained below its potential for practically the entire course of the tournament. In particular, the players did not seem to be physically fit. Both against Mexico and Portugal, the Iranians fell behind due to defensive weaknesses in the second half, and both games were consequently lost. It was only in the last game against Angola that the men around Ali Daei and Ali Karimi were able to achieve a draw - but far too little compared to expectations.

Group E

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Italy	3	2	1	0	005: 100	+4	07th
2.	Ghana	3	2	0	1	004: 300	+1	06th
3.	Czech Republic	3	1	0	2	003: 400	−1	03
4th	United States	3	0	1	2	002: 600	−4	01

Mon, June 12, 2006, 6 p.m. in Gelsenkirchen
United States	-	Czech Republic	0: 3 (0: 2)
Mon, June 12, 2006, 9 p.m. in Hanover
Italy	-	Ghana	2: 0 (1: 0)
Sat, June 17, 2006, 6 p.m. in Cologne
Czech Republic	-	Ghana	0: 2 (0: 1)
Sat, June 17, 2006, 9 p.m. in Kaiserslautern
Italy	-	United States	1: 1 (1: 1)
Thursday, June 22, 2006, 4 p.m. in Hamburg
Czech Republic	-	Italy	0: 2 (0: 1)
Thursday, June 22, 2006, 4 p.m. in Nuremberg
Ghana	-	United States	2: 1 (2: 1)

Italy started the tournament as expected. The team beat the World Cup newcomer from Ghana 2-0 thanks to a controlled style of play and benefited from the defensive weaknesses of the Africans. Against the United States it was only enough to score 1: 1, despite the numerical outnumber in the second half. The game was mainly characterized by the three expulsions, playful highlights were rare. The last group game was followed by a success against the weakened insider tip from the Czech Republic, so that the Italians could finally celebrate the group victory.

Despite the opening defeat against Italy, Ghana were able to qualify for the round of 16 as runners-up. Especially against the strong Czechs, the Africans showed a very good performance and won 2-0. A draw against the USA in the last game would have been enough, but the 2-1 victory meant that second place was confidently achieved.

The Czech Republic started the tournament with a furious 3-0 win against the USA, with the two Dortmunders Tomáš Rosický and Jan Koller forming the pillars of a strong team. However, the joy of this success was short-lived, as many players were injured, and as a result, the Czech Republic lost 2-0 to the underdog from Ghana. And in the last group game against Italy, the team couldn't score any points, so the Czechs had to start their journey home surprisingly early.

As expected, the USA had to be content with fourth place in a strong group. Although the desolate performance in the opening defeat against the Czech Republic was followed by a 1-1 draw against Italy, in which the Americans did not only know how to fight, it was not enough to advance. A questionable penalty kick put the United States on the losing track against Ghana, ending with just one point from three games.

Group F.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Brazil	3	3	0	0	007: 100	+6	09
2.	Australia	3	1	1	1	005: 500	± 0	04th
3.	Croatia	3	0	2	1	002: 300	−1	02
4th	Japan	3	0	1	2	002: 700	−5	01

Mon, June 12, 2006, 3 p.m. in Kaiserslautern
Australia	-	Japan	3: 1 (0: 1)
Tue, June 13, 2006, 9 p.m. in Berlin
Brazil	-	Croatia	1: 0 (1: 0)
So, June 18, 2006, 3 p.m. in Nuremberg
Japan	-	Croatia	0-0
So, June 18, 2006, 6 p.m. in Munich
Brazil	-	Australia	2: 0 (0: 0)
Thursday, June 22, 2006, 9 p.m. in Dortmund
Japan	-	Brazil	1: 4 (1: 1)
Thursday, June 22, 2006, 9 p.m. in Stuttgart
Croatia	-	Australia	2: 2 (1: 1)

Despite three wins, Brazil disappointed its supporters in the first days of the tournament. Only in the second half against Japan was the team's outstanding playing culture recognizable; before that, safety thinking and result management dominated. Croatia and Australia could have scored a point against the favored Brazilians with a more consistent evaluation of their chances. Japan was superior in the first half and was unlucky that Ronaldo headed the equalizer with the half-time whistle. The team seemed overaged overall, and the outstanding players of European club football, particularly the world footballer Ronaldinho , looked overplayed.

Australia surprisingly qualified as second in the group for the round of 16. At the beginning of the tournament there was a 3-1 win against Japan, which could be retracted by three late goals in the closing stages. The team also knew how to convince against Brazil, the 2-0 defeat was one goal too high. Nevertheless, in the last group game, a point against Croatia was enough for the advancement, which could also be taken in a gripping game. It was the first time that a team from Oceania survived the group stage.

Croatia disappointed their fans in the group stage. The team was not really inferior to its opponent in any of the three games, but the success in the form of a win was not there. The unfortunate 0: 1 against Brazil was followed by a missed penalty in a goalless draw against Japan and a narrow 2: 2 against Australia. That was only enough for third place in the group, the 1998 World Cup third party was eliminated in the group stage.

Japan, the host of previous championships, could not match the performances from the Confederations Cup when they narrowly failed in the group to Brazil. The unnecessary 1: 3 against Australia and the goalless draw against Croatia was followed by a defeat against Brazil. Despite an early lead, they weren't able to get the three points needed to advance. Japan consequently finished last in the group.

Group G

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Switzerland	3	2	1	0	004-000	+4	07th
2.	France	3	1	2	0	003: 100	+2	05
3.	South Korea	3	1	1	1	003: 400	−1	04th
4th	Togo	3	0	0	3	001: 600	−5	00

Tue, June 13, 2006, 3 p.m. in Frankfurt
South Korea	-	Togo	2: 1 (0: 1)
Tue, June 13, 2006, 6 p.m. in Stuttgart
France	-	Switzerland	0-0
So, June 18, 2006, 9 p.m. in Leipzig
France	-	South Korea	1: 1 (1: 0)
Mon, June 19, 2006, 3 p.m. in Dortmund
Togo	-	Switzerland	0: 2 (0: 1)
Fri, June 23, 2006, 9 p.m. in Cologne
Togo	-	France	0: 2 (0: 0)
Fri, June 23, 2006, 9 p.m. in Hanover
Switzerland	-	South Korea	2: 0 (1: 0)

Somewhat surprisingly, Switzerland was able to qualify as group winners for the round of 16. The third draw against France in a row (after the two games in the joint qualifying group for the World Cup) was followed by two 2-0 successes against Togo and South Korea. Especially in defense, the team from Switzerland showed three strong games, so that they were the only team without conceding a goal to reach the round of 16.

France, on the other hand, started the tournament disappointing. If the draw against Switzerland was still expected in the run-up to the tournament, the 1-1 draw against South Korea seemed to serve as final proof of an aging French team. The last game against Togo had to be won by two goals in order to reach the next round even in the event of a possible draw in the game between Switzerland and South Korea, which the team achieved with the first convincing performance in the tournament.

South Korea could not build on the successes at the last World Cup when they reached the semi-finals. The team already needed a lot of attempts against Togo to ultimately win a little happily against the Africans. Against France they started the game cautiously, but were able to equalize shortly before the end and thus had all the trump cards in hand before the last game against Switzerland: With a win they would not have been able to take the group win. In the end, however, was a 2-0 defeat and third place in the group.

The team from Togo hit the headlines even before the tournament started due to a premium dispute and the brief resignation of trainer Otto Pfister . A concentrated preparation for the first game against South Korea was therefore not possible. Nevertheless, they started furiously, but after a dismissal they conceded two goals and a 1: 2 defeat. Against the favored teams from Europe there were also two defeats in the end, so that the Africans had to travel home without a point.

Group H.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Spain	3	3	0	0	008: 100	+7	09
2.	Ukraine	3	2	0	1	005: 400	+1	06th
3.	Tunisia	3	0	1	2	003: 600	−3	01
4th	Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	002: 700	−5	01

Wed, June 14, 2006, 3 p.m. in Leipzig
Spain	-	Ukraine	4: 0 (2: 0)
Wed, June 14, 2006, 6 p.m. in Munich
Tunisia	-	Saudi Arabia	2: 2 (1: 0)
Mon, June 19, 2006, 6 p.m. in Hamburg
Saudi Arabia	-	Ukraine	0: 4 (0: 2)
Mon, June 19, 2006, 9 p.m. in Stuttgart
Spain	-	Tunisia	3: 1 (0: 1)
Fri, June 23, 2006, 4 p.m. in Kaiserslautern
Saudi Arabia	-	Spain	0: 1 (0: 1)
Fri, June 23, 2006, 4 p.m. in Berlin
Ukraine	-	Tunisia	1: 0 (0: 0)

Spain caused a bang in the first group game against the strong Ukraine. A convincing performance in all parts of the team brought a 4-0 victory. Against Tunisia, this performance could only be built on in the second half, when a half-time deficit could still be turned into a victory. Nevertheless, the team was subsequently seen as a hot contender for the title. A difficult 1-0 win against Saudi Arabia did not change anything, because Spain started with a better reserve team.

Despite the 4-0 debacle against Spain at the beginning of the tournament, Ukraine managed to qualify for the round of 16, as expected, as runners-up. The reason for this was the convincing win against Saudi Arabia and a concentrated performance in the decisive group game against Tunisia. A converted penalty made it 1-0.

As in previous tournaments, Tunisia could not qualify for the second round. Already in the first game against Saudi Arabia it was only enough to a disappointing 2-2 in the end, and the half-time lead was also given up against Spain. A victory in the decisive game was therefore necessary against Ukraine. Despite a decent performance, it wasn't even enough for a point, especially on the offensive they were too harmless.

The Saudi Arabian team could only surprise in their first group game when they were in the lead against Tunisia until stoppage time. In the end, however, it was only enough to draw, so that the team had only theoretical chances of reaching the second round after the bankruptcy against Ukraine. However, since they also lost to Spain's B team, Saudi Arabia only got the expected last place in the group in the end.

Final round

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2006 / final round

Schedule final round

Round of 16

Quarter finals

Semifinals

final

Sat, June 24th, Munich

A1: Germany

2

Fri, June 30, Berlin

B2: Sweden

0

Germany

21 (4) 2

Sat, June 24th, Leipzig

Argentina

1 (2)

C1: Argentina

12 1

Tue, July 4th, Dortmund

D2: Mexico

1

Germany

0

Mon, June 26th, Kaiserslautern

Italy

2 1

E1: Italy

1

Fri, June 30, Hamburg

Q2: Australia

0

Italy

3

Mon, June 26th, Cologne

Ukraine

0

G1: Switzerland

0 (0)

So, July 9th, Berlin

H2: Ukraine

20 (3) 2

Italy

21 (5) 2

So, June 25th, Stuttgart

France

1 (3)

B1: England

1

Sat, July 1st, Gelsenkirchen

A2: Ecuador

0

England

0 (1)

So, June 25th, Nuremberg

Portugal

20 (3) 2

D1: Portugal

1

Wed, July 5, Munich

C2: Netherlands

0

Portugal

0

Tue, June 27, Dortmund

France

1

3rd place match

F1: Brazil

3

Sat, July 1st, Frankfurt

Sat, July 8, Stuttgart

E2: Ghana

0

Brazil

0

Germany

3

Tue, June 27, Hanover

France

1

Portugal

1

H1: Spain

1

G2: France

3

¹ win after extra time
² win on penalties

Round of 16

Sat., June 24, 2006, 5 p.m. in Munich
Germany	-	Sweden	2: 0 (2: 0)
Sat., June 24, 2006, 9 p.m. in Leipzig
Argentina	-	Mexico	2: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 1)
Sun., June 25, 2006, 5 p.m. in Stuttgart
England	-	Ecuador	1: 0 (0: 0)
Sun., June 25, 2006, 9 p.m. in Nuremberg
Portugal	-	Netherlands	1: 0 (1: 0)
Mon., June 26, 2006, 5 p.m. in Kaiserslautern
Italy	-	Australia	1: 0 (0: 0)
Mon., June 26, 2006, 9 p.m. in Cologne
Switzerland	-	Ukraine	0: 0 n.v., 0: 3 i. E.
Tue., June 27, 2006, 5 p.m. in Dortmund
Brazil	-	Ghana	3: 0 (2: 0)
Tue., June 27, 2006, 9 p.m. in Hanover
Spain	-	France	1: 3 (1: 1)

In the round of 16, the first and second of the different groups played against each other. There were three open and sometimes explosive games on paper with Portugal against the Netherlands, Switzerland against Ukraine and Spain against France. In the other games, the group winners were the clear favorites, and ultimately they all prevailed. That's why there was no big surprise in the round of 16.

However, it was remarkable that Australia could keep up with Italy for an unexpectedly long time and keep a 0-0 through the 90th minute, with the southern Europeans playing outnumbered for almost the entire second half. It was not until the fifth minute of stoppage time that Francesco Totti converted a controversial penalty kick to make the Italians 1-0 win.

In the game between Brazil and Ghana, the result does not reflect the actual course of the game adequately. Although the Brazilians scored an early goal, the Ghanaians have long been equal to the Brazilian national team. However, Ghana failed due to their own inability to exploit high percentage scoring chances, and so shortly before the break they conceded the 0: 2 and later the more pronounced 0: 3. Brazil's game against Ghana was later suspected of manipulation.

Mexico was also able to keep up with Argentina for a long time and took an early 1-0 lead. However, they quickly got the compensation. Nevertheless, they were able to force the Argentines into the first extension of this World Cup, in which Maxi Rodríguez scored Argentina to win 2-1.

After a brilliant start against Sweden, Germany were already in the twelfth minute with two goals by Lukas Podolski, who was criticized in the group phase and played like unleashed in this game, 2-0 lead and held the result until the end. On the other hand, the Swedes had to return home after a missed penalty, which Larsson set well over the German goal.

In a weak game, England beat Ecuador with a 1-0 victory, as expected. David Beckham scored the decisive goal with a free kick.

In a mutually very defensive game between Switzerland and Ukraine, the penalty shoot-out after a goalless draw decided on progress. There, the Swiss shooters missed all three penalties, so that Ukraine made it to the quarter-finals. Thus, Switzerland had to return home not only with one defeat, but also without conceding a single goal.

The anticipated explosiveness of the game between Portugal and the Netherlands actually occurred, but less in game scenes than through the twelve yellow and four yellow-red cards that existed in this game - in addition to the 1-0 goal for Portugal.

Spain against France is considered to be one of the best game of the tournament. The favored Spaniards remained true to their tradition of leaving the tournament early as one of the favorites. After an open and exciting game, they were left behind against a French team, which played like transformed after the lean group stage, and gave their lead to David Villa .

Quarter finals

Friday, June 30, 2006, 5 p.m. in Berlin
Germany	-	Argentina	1: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 0: 0), 4: 2 i. E.
Friday, June 30, 2006, 9 p.m. in Hamburg
Italy	-	Ukraine	3: 0 (1: 0)
Saturday, July 1, 2006, 5 p.m. in Gelsenkirchen
England	-	Portugal	0: 0 n.v., 1: 3 p. E.
Saturday, July 1, 2006, 9 p.m. in Frankfurt
Brazil	-	France	0: 1 (0: 0)

Seven of the eight teams in the quarterfinals were considered favorites for the title before the start of the tournament. Only Ukraine was given at most outsider opportunities.

In Italy's game against Ukraine, the Italians lived up to their role as favorites from the start. The Italian national team took the lead in the sixth minute, but were lucky that the Ukrainians missed the best chances several times. In the second half, the Squadra Azzurra was able to extend their lead to a clear 3-0.

Germany's game against Argentina, on the other hand, was much more even. After a cautious start, Argentina took a 1-0 lead at the beginning of the second half. Germany then increased the pressure with the substitutes Tim Borowski and David Odonkor on Argentines who were more and more withdrawn. Eventually, José Pekerman took the heart of the Argentine side out of the game in Riquelme in favor of another defender. The pressure from the Germans was rewarded in the 80th minute when Tim Borowski passed a cross to Miroslav Klose and he headed the 1-1. It was Klose's first goal against one of the great football nations. Both teams had a few chances in extra time, but in the end the penalty shoot-out had to decide. Jens Lehmann was able to parry two penalties and thus secured the team's entry into the semi-finals.

England and Portugal played a similarly exciting game. Despite some efforts, neither team managed to score. However, Wayne Rooney was sent off after being assaulted. It was later hotly debated that Cristiano Ronaldo , his Portuguese teammate at Manchester United , apparently demanded the red card for him. The tension rose in extra time, but there were no goals here either. Portugal finally won the penalty shoot-out 3-1 after Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo saved three penalties. As in 1998 , England lost their most important man in a crucial game and lost again on penalties.

On the other hand, Brazil's game against France was a little more one-sided. The French had the game against rather weak and unmotivated-looking Brazilians for long periods in their hands. The key figure in the French game was once again Zinédine Zidane , who prepared the only goal of the game: Thierry Henry scored the winning goal for France in the 57th minute. The superstars of the Brazilian world champions were eliminated for the first time since the 1990 World Cup before the final.

Semifinals

Tuesday, July 4, 2006, 9 p.m. in Dortmund
Germany	-	Italy	0: 2 a.d.
Wed., July 5, 2006, 9 p.m. in Munich
Portugal	-	France	0: 1 (0: 1)

For the first time since 1982, only European teams were in the semi-finals. On paper, however, there was no clear favorite among the four nations.

In the first semi-final game, Germany played a classic against Italy. Even though it was still 0-0 after 90 minutes, the crowd experienced an exciting game with some great chances on both sides. In extra time, the Italians stepped up their offensive efforts, and so there were three strikers on the field at the end of the game. This attacking football, which is atypical for Italian conditions, finally had an effect. In a dramatic overtime, the Italian team was superior despite some German chances. Finally, Fabio Grosso gave Italy a 1-0 lead in the 119th minute, Alessandro Del Piero was able to increase it to 2-0 a minute later against an onrushing German team. This sealed the Italian final.

In the second game, Portugal and France faced each other. Both teams played a rather subdued game that lived mainly from the tension. In the first half, Zinédine Zidane gave France a 1-0 lead by converting a penalty kick. Portugal then tried to increase the pressure in the second half. Shortly before the end, Fabien Barthez made a mistake after a free kick from Cristiano Ronaldo , but Luís Figo missed the resulting high-percentage chance. As a result, France reached the end of the 1-0 for the final.

3rd place match

Sat., July 8, 2006, 9 p.m. in Stuttgart
Germany	-	Portugal	3: 1 (0: 0)

Germany against Portugal was the game in the "small final", which is traditionally played offensively as a rather insignificant game and usually ends with high scores.

At first this tradition seemed to suffer a break, as the goals failed to materialize despite a few chances, among other things due to saves by Oliver Kahn , who had priority over Jens Lehmann in this game and thus played his 86th and last international match. It was only in the 56th minute that Bastian Schweinsteiger broke the spell and scored 1-0 for Germany with a " fluttering " long-range shot. Only four minutes later, the Munich player was involved in a goal again when Petit deflected his free kick to make it 2-0. After a lively game, Schweinsteiger scored the 3-0 for the German national team shortly before being substituted in the 78th minute. That decided the game. Luís Figo could n't change that in his last international match, although he prepared the 1-3 consolation goal by Nuno Gomes . The late goal could no longer prevent the German national team from taking third place.

final

Italy		France		Lineup
	July 9th at 8:00 p.m. in Berlin ( Olympiastadion ) Result: 1: 1 n.v. (1: 1, 1: 1), 5: 3 i. E. Spectators: 69,000 (sold out) Referee: Horacio Marcelo Elizondo ( Argentina )   Match report
	Gianluigi Buffon - Gianluca Zambrotta , Fabio Cannavaro , Marco Materazzi , Fabio Grosso - Gennaro Gattuso , Mauro Camoranesi (86th Alessandro Del Piero ), Simone Perrotta (61st Vincenzo Iaquinta ), Andrea Pirlo - Luca Toni , Francesco Totti (61st Daniele De Rossi ) Head Coach: Marcello Lippi	Fabien Barthez - Willy Sagnol , William Gallas , Lilian Thuram , Éric Abidal - Patrick Vieira (56th Alou Diarra ), Claude Makélélé - Franck Ribéry (100th David Trezeguet ), Zinédine Zidane , Florent Malouda - Thierry Henry (107th Sylvain Wiltord ) Head coach: Raymond Domenech
	1: 1 Materazzi (19.)	0: 1 Zidane (7th, foul penalty)
	penalties shoot
	1: 0 Pirlo 2: 1 Materazzi 3: 1 De Rossi 4: 2 Del Piero 5: 3 Grosso	1: 1 Wiltord Trezeguet hits the crossbar 3: 2 Abidal 4: 3 Sagnol
	Zambrotta (5.)	Sagnol (12th), Makélélé (76th), Malouda (111th)
		Zidane (110th, assault)
	Player of the Match: Andrea Pirlo (Italy)

In the final of the World Cup, France and Italy faced the two finalists of the 2000 European Championships , France had won 2-1 in extra time with a golden goal .

The audience experienced a varied final with a turbulent opening phase. France was awarded a penalty in the seventh minute, which Zinédine Zidane converted to 1-0. He lifted the ball against the crossbar, from where it came up about half a meter behind the line in the goal. Marco Materazzi equalized after a corner kick in the 19th minute, making up for the mistake he made for the penalty. This was followed by an offensive phase for the Italians, in which, among other things, Luca Toni hit the bar . In the second half, the Italian team fell far behind and almost exclusively waited for counter-chances. France, on the other hand, tried to take an offensive action and make the game, but with Thierry Henry as the only striker , remained too weak. No team had a countable success. In extra time, the French - now with David Trezeguet as an additional attacker from the 100th minute - were the far superior team, but were unable to break the defensive bulwark of the Italians, especially since Henry shortly after the start of the second half of the extension of his exhausting performance alone against the Italian defense had to pay tribute and was replaced. Zidane still had the winning goal on his head, but Gianluigi Buffon was able to fend off his placed header quickly.

The biggest upset of the game was Zidane's assault against Materazzi in the 110th minute. The latter had rammed his head into the Italian's chest after he had repeatedly insulted Zidane's family members. Zidane was sent off and FIFA later imposed both players with game bans and fines.

After the expulsion, the game flattened and went to penalties, in which Italy prevailed 5-3. Only David Trezeguet missed a penalty when the ball bounced off the crossbar into the field.

Best goal scorers

rank player Gates 1  Miroslav Klose 5 2  Hernán Crespo 3  Thierry Henry 3  Lukas Podolski 3  Maxi Rodríguez 3  Ronaldo 3  Fernando Torres 3  David Villa 3  Zinedine Zidane 3 10  Adriano 2  Bartosz Bosacki 2  Omar Bravo 2  Tim Cahill 2

rank player Gates 10  Agustín Delgado 2  Aruna Dindane 2  Alexander Frei 2  Steven Gerrard 2  Maniche 2  Marco Materazzi 2  Tomáš Rosický 2  Bastian Schweinsteiger 2  Andrij Shevchenko 2  Carlos Tenorio 2  Luca Toni 2  Paulo Wanchope 2  Patrick Vieira 2

In addition, there were 80 players with a hit. There were also four own goals.

The top scorer of the entire competition was the Mexican Jared Borgetti with 14 goals from the qualification .

Awards

Golden ball

The French Zinédine Zidane received the Golden Ball award, ahead of the Italians Fabio Cannavaro (Silver Ball) and Andrea Pirlo (Bronze Ball) . After Zidane's assault in the final against Materazzi , criticism was voiced that he was nevertheless named the most valuable player of the tournament. The BBC then noted that most of the media had cast their vote before Zidane's headbutt, so this assault was not taken into account.

Golden Shoe

After the end of the World Cup, Miroslav Klose was awarded the Golden Shoe as top scorer . The Silver Shoe went to Hernán Crespo and the Bronze Shoe went to Ronaldo . Both scored three goals, as did six other players, so the number of assists played during the tournament decided the placement in the ranking.

Lev Yashin Prize

Gianluigi Buffon (Italy) received the Lev Yashin Prize ( Golden Glove since 2010 ) for the best goalkeeper at the World Cup .

Best Young Player

The German Lukas Podolski received the Best Young Player award , which was presented for the first time in World Cup history . He was honored by the FIFA Technical Study Group .

FIFA Fair Play Award

As the fairest teams, Brazil and Spain received the FIFA Fair Play Award , in which only teams were considered that had reached at least the round of 16 of the World Cup finals. After the 1998 World Cup , at which England and France received the award, this is the second time in World Cup history that two teams have shared this prize, which was first awarded at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina .

Most entertaining team

The most entertaining team was voted for by the public through a vote on the FIFA World Cup website. The winner was Portugal .

All-star team

On July 7, 2006, FIFA announced the 23-player All-Star Team :

goalkeeper	Defense	midfield	striker
Gianluigi Buffon Jens Lehmann Ricardo	Roberto Ayala Fabio Cannavaro Ricardo Carvalho Philipp Lahm John Terry Lilian Thuram Gianluca Zambrotta	Michael Ballack Luís Figo Gennaro Gattuso Maniche Andrea Pirlo Patrick Vieira Zé Roberto Zinédine Zidane	Hernán Crespo Thierry Henry Miroslav Klose Luca Toni Francesco Totti

referee

Preselection and cast

From a shortlist of 44 referees , 23 were initially nominated by FIFA for the World Cup, three of which were replaced after extensive fitness tests in the run-up to the tournament. Shortly before the World Cup, the Italian Massimo De Santis was also canceled due to his involvement in the rigged games scandal in his home country, and the Jamaican referee Peter Prendergast sustained a knee injury and traveled back home. As a substitute for a possibly injured referee or assistant referee , a fifth official was also on the sidelines for the first time .

The following table names the 21 referees who presided over games in the World Cup.

Carlos Amarilla  Benito Archundia  Massimo Busacca  Luis Medina Cantalejo  Coffi Codjia  Frank De Bleeckere  Horacio Marcelo Elizondo

Essam Abd el-Fatah  Valentin Ivanov  Tōru Kamikawa  Jorge Luis Larrionda  Shamsul Maidin  Markus Merk  Ľuboš Micheľ

Graham poll  Eric Poulat  Marco Antonio Rodríguez  Roberto Rosetti  Óscar Ruiz  Carlos Simon  Mark Shield

With regard to the choice of referees, it was criticized that FIFA did not invite the best referees to the World Cup, but instead paid particular attention to the continental proporz . The opening game was directed by Horacio Elizondo, who also whistled the final. Elizondo is the first referee to be honored with this "double effort".

In contrast to earlier World Cup tournaments, teams of referees were mainly used, who also act together in league operations. For the first time, all referees were also in contact with their assistants via radio ( headset ).

Evaluation of the services

There was controversy about FIFA's approach to prescribing new interpretations of rules for the referees at the World Cup. To protect the players, slipping into the legs of the opponent should consistently be punished with a red card, as well as excessive use of the elbow in header and running duels. In addition, game delays such as holding the ball when taking a free kick against your own team should be punished with a yellow card.

While the decisions of the referees were judged to be satisfactory during the first games, the controversial decisions increased massively in the course of the tournament. In particular, the different assessments of excessive physical activity brought criticism from the referees. During this World Cup there were two games with three dismissals, in the round of 16 between Portugal and the Netherlands even four players were sent off. The referees issued a total of 26 dismissals.

Experts criticized the fact that the World Cup, as the most important sporting event in football, should not be used as a playground for rule changes. The rules and their interpretation must be known to players and referees in advance from practice during the season. However, FIFA was of the opinion that the World Cup was the best because of its importance, as referees all over the world could see or learn how the new regulations were being implemented, so that a global standard in the implementation of the rules could be achieved more easily.

Records and Statistics

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2006 / Statistics

• The youngest player was the Englishman Theo Walcott at the age of 17 , but he was not used. The oldest was goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel from Tunisia at 40 years and 71 days . He was used in the three group games of his team. This makes him the fifth oldest World Cup player to date.
• Philipp Lahm scored the first goal of the 2006 World Cup in the sixth minute of the opening game between Germany and Costa Rica , while Marco Materazzi scored the last goal in the final .
• The fastest goal of this World Cup was scored by Asamoah Gyan in the game Ghana - Czech Republic after 75 seconds .
• Most of the field references (four) were in the game Portugal - Netherlands , which is also a record in World Cup history. Referee Valentin Ivanov also set the record for the most yellow cards in a game (16).
• The 2000th World Cup goal was scored in the 51st minute by Marcus Allbäck in the England - Sweden match.
• The 100th goal of the 2006 World Cup was scored by Clint Dempsey in the match between Ghana and USA .
• With his two goals against Japan and the goal against Ghana, Ronaldo was able to overtake Gerd Müller in the all-time World Cup goalscorer list ; the Brazilian scored a total of 15 goals.
• The Switzerland survived the group stage as the only team without conceding a goal and is the first team in a World Cup without conceding a goal to retire (hit by penalties are not considered by FIFA as such). At the same time, Switzerland is also the first team to fail to score a goal in a penalty shoot-out in a World Cup.
• The Trinidad and Tobago team are the only ones that didn't score a goal during the tournament.
• The latest game-winning penalty in "regular" playing time in World Cup history was given in the 95th minute of the game between Italy and Australia ; he was transformed by Francesco Totti .
• With the victories in the first four matches, Brazil set a new record of a total of eleven World Cup victories in a row.
• Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo is the first World Cup goalkeeper to save three of four penalties in a penalty shoot-out. The Ukrainian Schowkowskyj, on the other hand, did not have to accept a goal in three Swiss attempts, as he saved two penalties and one hit the crossbar.
• Italy's twelve World Cup goals up to the final were scored by ten different players. The Italians set the previous record set by France in 1982 .
• It was only for the fifth time in total and for the second time after the end of the Second World War that there was a final in which neither Brazil nor Germany stood (most recently in 1978 ).
• The average attendance of around 52,500 is the third highest in World Cup history. Only the games in the USA in 1994 and Brazil in 2014 were watched by more people in the stadium.

organization

Organizing Committee

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2006 / Organizing Committee

The 2006 World Cup Organizing Committee ( OK for short ) organized the World Cup in Germany. President of the OK was Franz Beckenbauer , responsible for major projects and representative of the event.

Horst R. Schmidt was the first vice president and deputy head of the OC. His areas of responsibility in the OC included organizational matters - from financial and security matters to transport and administrative issues. Wolfgang Niersbach was executive vice president and press chief of the OK. He was responsible for media work, team accommodation, marketing and information technology. Theo Zwanziger was Vice President. His area of ​​responsibility was administration, legal affairs, the WM staff and general organizational tasks. Fedor Radmann was an art and culture representative and adviser to the executive committee.

The OC was supported by a supervisory board with 10 and a board of trustees with 14 members. The OC was advised by the sports committee of the German Bundestag . International ambassadors for the World Cup were Jürgen Klinsmann , Oliver Bierhoff , Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Rudi Völler . OC boss Beckenbauer named another 14 World Cup ambassadors, all of them former soccer professionals, who were to officially accompany their hometowns and at the same time the World Cup venues on the way to the World Cup.

security

Due to the problematic security situation worldwide, the security measures to protect the audience and athletes were discussed intensively, especially in the run-up to the tournament. The focus was on measures both to ward off terrorist activities and to contain hooliganism .

At the international level, particular importance was attached to intra-European cooperation between the various security authorities. The German police wanted to prevent hooligans and known violent criminals from entering Germany by transmitting the data of people who had already become suspicious, in particular from England , Poland and the Netherlands , to the German authorities. For this purpose, the Schengen Agreement was de facto suspended for the duration of the tournament , so that, depending on the security situation, entry controls were again carried out at the German external borders. At the same time, many foreign police officers were on duty in Germany to provide their compatriots with advice and assistance at the venues. At the same time, their insider knowledge should be used in critical situations.

In Germany itself, the hooligans known to the police had to be denied access to the stadiums mainly because the tickets on the free market were only sold personally. For this purpose, in particular, the entries in the file "Violent offenders Sport" kept by the Central Information Office for Sports Operations , in which more than 6,000 people were listed, were used. This practice was criticized from many sides, among other things, the Federal Data Protection Commissioner considered the storage of the identity card number on the tickets to be disproportionate and "unsuitable for defense against terrorist threats". Although the announced checks on ticket holders were only actually carried out in a few cases, these measures, together with the presence of many security guards in the arenas, ensured that there were no noteworthy riots within the stadiums.

The internal deployment of the Bundeswehr, which the CDU and CSU brought up for discussion in the run-up to the tournament , was not realized. Security at the venues and in the public squares was ensured by an increased police presence and by private security companies who carried out controls both in the stadiums and as part of the public viewing and prohibited dangerous items from being taken.

World Cup quarters

The World Cup quarters for the qualified participants in the World Cup was selected in several phases. After receiving all applications, FIFA first checked the suitability of the various hotels in two stages and, in October 2004, suggested 110 hotels to the participating teams to choose from. The following standards were required for inclusion on the list: The teams had to be able to reach an airport by bus within half an hour, from where they could travel to the venue on the day before the World Cup match. There had to be plenty of training opportunities in the immediate vicinity of the accommodation, ideally in the form of a training stadium with a first-class lawn and a covered grandstand. The organizing committee received around 300 applications from all over Germany in the most varied of qualities - from five-star hotels to sports schools. The team leaders themselves usually only made their decisions after the group draw in order to be able to include geographical aspects in the decision-making process. One consequence of this approach was that only Ukraine moved into its quarters in the new federal states . In Schleswig-Holstein and Saarland are no national settled.

FIFA campaigns

FIFA fair play program

Human rights organizations have pointed out that the sporting goods manufacturers mentioned benefit above all from very low wages and insecure working conditions in the producing countries. The conditions there violated the spirit and the letter of the declaration on the FIFA Fair Play Program . In this, FIFA recognizes the importance of equality , peace, children's rights , health , education and environmental issues and is committed to social commitment to these goals. An alliance of non-governmental organizations is calling on manufacturers and FIFA to take on more responsibility and advocate freedom of union , living wages and the approval of independent controls.

FIFA's anti-racism program

As the number of racist incidents in football had increased in the run-up to the 2006 World Cup , the FIFA Executive Committee revised Article 55 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code .

This now provides, among other things, that a player who expresses racist discrimination can be banned for at least five games and points can be deducted from his team. Spectators who hang up a banner with racist statements during the game, for example, can be punished with a stadium ban of at least two years.

As part of the anti-racism program of FIFA a banner reading "No to racism" were in all 64 games before the opening of the stadium (no to racism) designed in the center circle and broadcast video spots against racism in the stadium. In addition, the captains of the national teams who have qualified for the quarter-finals read out a personal appeal against racism after singing the national anthem . Because of the idol status of these players, FIFA hoped to have a special impact on viewers around the world.

In addition, in the run-up to this World Cup, FIFA started a cooperation with the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network in order to be able to send a clear signal against racism in the future. In this respect, FIFA President Sepp Blatter saw the World Cup only as the “first application” of the new anti-racism program.

Green Goal

With the Green Goal project, FIFA wanted to organize a major sporting event in accordance with the goals of environmental protection . In addition to the consistent use of returnable cups and waste separation systems, the campaign also included strengthening local public transport when traveling to the stadiums.

Sponsors

The soccer world championship was largely financed by sponsors . The main international sponsors of the world association FIFA alone paid more than 600 million euros (on average a little more than 40 million euros) to the association, roughly three times as much money as was earned through ticket sales. FIFA's official partners for the World Cup include Anheuser-Busch and fourteen other well-known international companies: adidas , Avaya , Coca-Cola , Continental , Deutsche Telekom , Emirates as well as Fujifilm , Gillette , Hyundai , Mastercard , McDonald’s , Philips , Toshiba and Yahoo .

Then there were the national sponsors, who each contributed 13 million euros to the World Cup. In Berlin on December 7, 2004, the Organizing Committee of the World Cup presented the last sponsor of the 2006 World Cup: Deutsche Bahn AG. Other national sponsors were Postbank , Obi , Hamburg-Mannheimer , EnBW and ODDSET . In contrast to the 15 international sponsors of the world football association FIFA, the national sponsors were only allowed to advertise their commitment in Germany.

The companies that got involved in the World Cup hoped to increase their level of awareness or reputation and thus to increase their sales. The 2004 European Football Championship and sponsor Carlsberg , for example, showed that this commitment could be worthwhile . The Danish brewery giant sold 13 percent more beer during the tournament. For the World Cup, the second largest beer brewer in the world, the American company Anheuser-Busch , secured the exclusive rights to serve beer in the stadiums for 40 million euros from FIFA. Due to a legal dispute in the 1990s between Anheuser-Busch and the Bitburger Brewery , the subject of which was the similarity of names between Bit and Bud , Anheuser-Busch should not have been allowed to advertise its Bud brand in Germany during the World Cup. However, both breweries agreed in the run-up to the World Cup that 30 percent of the beer served in the stadiums would be taken over by the German company.

In addition to the main sponsors of the tournament, the individual team equipment suppliers also hoped for increasing sales figures from their involvement in the various national teams. In addition to global corporations such as adidas , Puma and Nike , rather unknown sporting goods manufacturers such as Umbro , Lotto , Marathon and Joma also equipped the participants in the World Cup.

Entry fees and bonuses for the associations

In addition to the sponsors, the team equipment suppliers benefit from the world championship to a large extent through the marketing of player jerseys. In addition to the organizer, part of the income was distributed to the participating and member associations. Around 262.9 million euros flowed to the associations of the participants alone in the form of initial and game bonuses.

Each of the 32 participants in the soccer World Cup in Germany received 10.37 million Swiss francs (8.21 million euros) entry fee from FIFA. Qualifying for the final round of the World Cup was not only associated with a lot of prestige for each nation, it was also financially worthwhile. The entire bonus pool was increased by 38 percent compared to the 2002 World Cup : 332 million Swiss francs (262.9 million euros) compared to 190 million euros during the World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

ticket

tickets

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2006 / Tickets

From February 1 to March 31, 2005, the first phase of ticket sales for the World Cup took place worldwide. At the World Cup, there were only seat tickets in four categories, with the prices for the cheapest category in 47 games in the group stage being 35 euros. The prices went up to 600 euros for the final. In addition, from the 3rd pre-sale phase, there were also tickets for visually impaired seats, which always cost 60% of the normal price. Overall, the organizing committee of the world championship expected a total income of 200 million euros.

During the entire run-up to the tournament, it was criticized that only a small proportion of the tickets went on sale. According to the organizing committee (OK) , only 1.12 million of the total of 3.2 million tickets - a little more than a third - were available for online sales. The greater part of the tickets was reserved for sponsors, the DFB , the various participating associations, the world association FIFA, there for the non-participating countries, as well as for particularly wealthy customers.

Initially, there were disputes between FIFA and the organizers over pricing. The OK insisted on a social component and achieved a price of 35 euros for the cheapest seat in the group games, which was 16 euros below that of the 2002 World Cup . For the first time at a World Cup, the entry ticket to the games was also valid as a ticket for free use of public transport.

Just over a million people from 195 countries applied for the 812,000 tickets in this first two-month sales phase. 8.7 million valid card orders were received, of which 6.25 million came from Germany. 2.3 million orders came from a manipulation attempt started in the USA and 1.3 million double orders were not accepted. This means that there were over ten applicants for each ticket in the first sales phase. After the first 48 hours of the sales phase, the demand had already exceeded the supply. Everyone could receive a maximum of four tickets each for seven games via a lottery procedure. The receipts were not processed in chronological order. Following a TÜV- tested procedure and under notarial supervision, the first order phase was raffled on April 15, 2005. The tickets were only sold on the official website so that all interested parties around the world have the same opportunities.

The personalization of the admission tickets is a first. With reference to security aspects, these were not transferable, the buyers had to register with their name and ID number. Several hundred thousand VIP tickets were excluded from this.

According to the terms and conditions , no one was entitled to resell or pass on a ticket that had been allocated to them. An attempt to sell admission tickets should have been classified as black market trade and would have led to the admission ticket in question being blocked. Access information, but not personal data, should be stored on the security chip of the personalized cards.

From a purely organizational point of view, checking the personal data at the stadium entrance turned out to be impossible with an average of more than 50,000 visitors per game. According to a newspaper interview by FIFA President Sepp Blatter, only around one percent of the stadium visitors had their personal details checked. Accordingly, the black market flourished to the same extent as in similar major sporting events, which Blatter referred to in the same context as a normal process and "open market". In addition, according to FIFA statements, even people who wanted to enter the stadium with a ticket in a different name were not refused entry; at most, the ticket was changed at short notice (unless the ticket was blocked due to loss or theft).

Economic impact of the tournament

Macroeconomic expectations in the run-up to the tournament

Germany had been in economic stagnation since 2001 and hoped that hosting the second largest sporting event in the world (measured by the number of television viewers) would provide important macroeconomic impulses.

Around 1.38 billion euros were invested in new stadiums, 280 million euros of which in the Allianz Arena alone .

The then Federal Minister of Economics, Wolfgang Clement, forecast a long-term economic gain of over eight billion euros in gross domestic product for Germany , which corresponds to 0.36% of GDP in 2005. This revenue should come primarily from the approximately five million additional overnight stays. The organizing committee expected around 3.2 million visitors, of which around one million should come from abroad.

Before the start of the tournament, the main focus was on improving the infrastructure . All twelve venues were able to boast modern stadiums, with the costs for renovation or new construction adding up to amounts between 48 and 280 million euros. A total of around 1.38 billion euros were invested by the state and the arenas' operators. In addition, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced that it would invest 3.7 billion euros in road construction and 500 million euros in ticket sales.

Measurable macroeconomic effects of the World Cup

In principle, it is very difficult to assess the long-term consequences of such a major event on economic development due to uncertain forecasts and diverse multiplier effects. Measurable effects on the revenue side of the state and the economy are offset by the effects of the tournament, which, like the rise in Germany's reputation, are more of an ideal nature. In addition, it is unclear whether the investments in the infrastructure have paid off or whether environmental damage has occurred as a result of increasing tourism with associated follow-up costs.

Despite all the imponderables, the federal government draws a consistently positive conclusion of the tournament in its final report. According to this, the World Cup has boosted growth in Germany, both in the hospitality industry with an increase of 300 million euros and in retail with 2 billion euros, a significant increase in sales was recorded. In addition, more than 100 million euros in additional tax revenue could be booked. In the months of the World Cup, there was also a slight relaxation in the German labor market , according to the Federal Employment Agency , around 50,000 additional jobs were created. New jobs have been created, especially in the hotel and restaurant industry, but also in the security services. It is still unclear which part of these positions will remain in the long term, as is the proportion of jobs subject to social security contributions. In addition, it is difficult to precisely assign measurable magnitudes to various causes: the particularly warm, dry June 2006 may also have had its share in the increased number of overnight stays and other tourist indicators.

A study by the German Institute for Economic Research comes to the conclusion that the World Cup “could not have any noteworthy positive macroeconomic effects”. According to calculations by the DIW, the expenditures by foreign visitors amounted to only around 500 million euros and are therefore negligible in the macroeconomic view.

According to a representative population survey by the Cologne market research institute Sport + Markt on behalf of Handelsblatt , adidas, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Deutsche Telekom are the best-known sponsors of the World Cup. The biggest winner in this regard, however, is Hyundai, as the automaker has achieved a growth in awareness from 33 to 50% through the World Cup. The sporting goods manufacturers acting as team equipment suppliers also benefited from the boom in the World Cup. For example, adidas was able to record significant sales increases in the first quarter of 2006, and Puma also expected increases of 40% compared to the previous year.

The extent to which the increase in mood within the German economy that accompanied the World Cup can be attributed to the tournament is controversial. Although the ifo index - Germany's most highly regarded economic barometer - recorded its highest level in around 15 years in June 2006, the material influence of the tournament seems to have been only minor. It is noticeable, however, that at the end of the tournament there was again a significant decline in sentiment.

Economic balance of the organizing committee

The budget of the organizing committee was 430 million euros. The OK generated a surplus of 135 million euros.

The operators of the twelve World Cup stadiums achieved income from stadium rental of 33 million euros as well as further payments by the OC in the amount of 18 million euros. The OC's profit was broken down as follows: After deducting a € 40 million refund to FIFA, which had granted the OC a grant in the run-up to the tournament, and the corporation and trade tax payments to be made (€ 43.7 million) the remaining 56.6 million euros are divided equally between the DFB and the DFL in accordance with the basic agreement .

In accordance with the statutes, the DFB's income from the World Cup flowed exclusively into charitable projects, of which 20 million euros went to the regional associations with this aim. Further sums went to the German Olympic Sports Confederation and the German Sports Aid .

reporting

A total of at least 14,000 media representatives reported from the World Cup finals. The International Broadcast Center (press center) for the World Cup was located on the grounds of the New Munich Trade Fair Center .

watch TV

For the World Cup, the licensor of the television rights, the Swiss sports rights agency Infront AG, has contracted television companies from 205 countries . The amount of the costs incurred by Infront was not disclosed. The television production, which includes in particular the picture direction, i.e. the decision as to which pictures and game excerpts are broadcast, was taken over by the Infront subsidiary Host Broadcast Services (HBS). This also applied to the transmissions on German television.

In the host's country, the group phase and the games for the first three places on public television on ARD and ZDF as well as the eight Sunday encounters on private television on RTL Television were broadcast Monday to Saturday . All the German team's matches were shown on free-to-air television. If the German team had played in the round of 16 on a Sunday, ARD and ZDF would have received a 49th game. Otherwise, public television had “no play” on Sundays until the quarter-finals.

The moderator for ARD was Gerhard Delling with expert Günter Netzer from a studio in Cologne. The ZDF broadcast with presenter Johannes B. Kerner from the ZDF-Arena at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. The former Swiss referee Urs Meier , the then Mainz 05 coach Jürgen Klopp and occasionally Franz Beckenbauer were at his side as experts . Reinhold Beckmann , Steffen Simon and Gerd Gottlob were on duty as commentators for ARD, and Béla Réthy , Thomas Wark and Wolf-Dieter Poschmann for ZDF . Günther Jauch moderated for RTL with expert Rudi Völler , commentator was Tom Bartels .

In Austria the ORF , in Switzerland the SF broadcast all 64 games live.

The pay TV broadcaster Premiere broadcast all 64 games, eight of them exclusively. The exclusive games were games on the last day of the group, which always took place at the same time for each group, so that at the same time another game was broadcast live on free TV . For the first time, all 64 World Cup games were broadcast on Premiere in the new, high-definition television format HDTV . Meetings taking place at the same time were shown in conference calls. In addition, Premiere offered its own World Cup channel, which showed analyzes, highlights and repetitions around the clock.

The opening game on ZDF (Germany - Costa Rica) achieved the highest rate of a World Cup opening game since the beginning of the rate measurement. At its peak, the game was followed by 22.4 million viewers in Germany. The program thus reached more than 27 percent of the population plus radio broadcasts.

The semi-final match between Germany and Italy reached the highest audience reach ever recorded in Germany (not including programs under 15 minutes). 29.66 million viewers saw the game, at its peak even 31.31 million, even though an estimated 10 million Germans did not watch the game in front of their home television but at events. The market share of television broadcasting rose to 91.2%.

Adidas Arena in Berlin

Video wall of the " MainArena " in Frankfurt

Broadcast on big screens

Following an initiative by FIFA Marketing & TV Deutschland GmbH, a new event concept was developed, according to which free FIFA Fan Festivities were held in all 12 venues. This concept was developed by FIFA together with the venues and the organizing committee (OC) and with the support of the sports rights marketer Infront . This ensured that the 2006 World Cup could be broadcast free of charge on large screens in all 12 German World Cup cities. The main reason was, inter alia. the insufficient number of tickets. In total, the 12 official FIFA Fan Festivities were attended by more than 18 million viewers. FIFA allowed local organizers to sell sausages, fries and German beer. The drink from FIFA sponsor Budweiser did not have to be served. The international football association financed a large screen in each of the twelve venues, along with the technology and television images. With the help of the official sponsors, however, the football association wanted to spend a maximum of 700,000 euros per World Cup city, all other costs had to be raised by the individual cities. The broadcasts from Frankfurt and Berlin in particular attracted national attention. In Frankfurt, the games were broadcast live on an oversized video wall that was installed as an artificial island on the Main so that they could be followed from both sides of the river ( MainArena ) . After an agreement with the city of Berlin, the FIFA Fan Fest took place in Berlin as the “Fan Mile” on Strasse des 17. Juni .

In addition, the free public broadcast was possible in all other cities. Thus, every city and every municipality, for example in public places or in multi-purpose halls, could set up large screens and broadcast the games free of charge. This free approval also explicitly applied to all non-commercial events in schools, churches, hospitals, companies or beer gardens. However, if a broadcast was sponsored, it was considered a commercial event for which royalties were levied. This also applied to all events where admission was charged. Only local and regional companies that were not competitors of the official FIFA sponsors were allowed to act as sponsors.

Broadcasts took place in many German cities, mostly in large squares in the city center. In Berlin, among other things, further live broadcasts took place in the Sony Center , in the Waldbühne and in the newly built Adidas Arena .

radio

FIFA did not grant direct broadcasting rights to radio stations as they cannot be forbidden to comment on games that are shown live on television. However, FIFA gave radio stations the title of “Licensed Radio Station”, which they were then allowed to advertise on their websites and on posters as well as in the current program. Many radio stations, both private and public, broadcast the World Cup live from the stadiums and commented on the encounters.

Football globe in Berlin

“The modern soccer shoe”, Walk of Ideas in Berlin, unveiled on March 10, 2006

Culture

Former Federal Minister of the Interior Otto Schily (SPD), OC boss Franz Beckenbauer and the responsible multimedia artist André Heller were the initiators of the 30 million euro cultural program to get in the mood for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The official mascot for the World Cup, the lion Goleo VI , was unveiled on November 13, 2004. Other symbols presented by the organizing committee headed by Franz Beckenbauer were the official logo, consisting of colorful faces, and the official World Cup poster with tiny stars that combine to form a soccer ball. Famous graphic designers formed in the initiative 11 Designers for Germany , but could not achieve a change in the corporate design, even Georg Baselitz (who had previously designed a poster for the 1993 ice hockey world championship in Germany) withdrew his design.

An official FIFA World Cup anthem was composed by Herbert Grönemeyer together with the duo Amadou & Mariam and the German version was entitled Time that something turns . The song reached number one in the German charts. The second official FIFA World Cup song was the ballad and the top twenty hit Time of our Lives , sung by R&B singer Toni Braxton with the classical quartet Il Divo ; Love Generation by Bob Sinclar was not adopted as the official World Cup song by many, but the song of the World Cup mascot Goleo. In addition, the Sportfreunde Stiller were represented at the top of the German charts with '54, '74, '90, 2006 . Other “soccer hits” at the time of the World Cup included Thank You and This Way by Xavier Naidoo , All Together Now by Atomic Kitten , Dance! by Lumidee featuring Fatman Scoop , Schwarz und Weiß by Oliver Pocher and Hips Don't Lie by Shakira .

One of the most important projects was the soccer globe , which was set up one after the other in the host cities until the start of the World Cup. In addition, the Federal Cultural Foundation organized the first street soccer world championship , a project to promote young talent under the motto “ street soccer cultures ”.

The television station Arte also devoted itself to the subject of football and culture, and the Goethe-Institut organized its own exhibitions on the World Cup in over 127 countries. Also, Phoenix had some football fever broadcasts the program. Before the start of the World Cup, historical games were shown again in full length with original commentary.

The Brazilian choreographer Deborah Colker created the football choreography Maracanã with the support of the federal government's arts and culture program, which includes typical scenes such as fouls and overhead kicks.

The planned World Cup opening ceremony on June 7, 2006 in Berlin, at which David Bowie , Van Morrison , Brian Eno and Paul Simon were supposed to perform, was canceled by the world football association FIFA because of alleged grass problems in the Berlin Olympic Stadium . Instead, as originally planned, the opening ceremony of the World Cup took place on June 9, 2006 before the opening game in Munich. The celebration was organized by Christian Stückl , also director of the Passion Play in Oberammergau.

As a Walk of Ideas , six sculptures were put on display in Berlin , which are supposed to represent the German inventiveness to the outside world. The first sculpture was unveiled on March 10, 2006 in the Spreebogenpark opposite the new Berlin main train station, “The modern soccer shoe”. The monument, 12 meters long and 5 meters high per shoe, represents a pair of the revolutionary screw-in studded shoe developed by Adi Dassler . In addition, an oversized plastic model of an Audi TT was unveiled as a reference to the well-known and innovative German automotive industry .

In addition to the soccer World Cup, all of the municipal museums in Frankfurt am Main offered exhibitions on soccer topics. One week before the opening game, the skyline in the so-called “ SkyArena ” was illuminated with highlights from football history.

In Hamburg , the football World Cup was set in motion with blue, glowing goals scattered across the city .

Conclusion

Fans in the car parade

Celebrating fans in the Olympic Park in Munich during the opening game Germany - Costa Rica

Germany as a host

According to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, the World Cup was not only the best in history in terms of organization, but above all thanks to the enthusiastic and hospitable audience, Germany was able to present itself as a worthy host of the tournament. The many fan festivals and public viewing areas in Germany created the feeling of a four-week folk festival in which a large part of the population took part.

The widespread display of the German national flag and the German national colors on houses, vehicles and clothing also provided for discussion in the country during the first weeks of the tournament . Numerous national and international observers from the media, society and politics said that they not only saw great support for the German national soccer team, but even a “new patriotism ” of the Germans. A development continued here that was already evident at the 2002 World Cup. A study by the University of Marburg suggests a slight increase in national pride. Isolated attempts by right-wing extremist organizations to abuse the tournament as a platform for their propaganda, however, were unsuccessful.

Since the German national soccer team contributed to triggering this previously unknown enthusiasm and euphoria in Germany for weeks, the then Federal President Horst Köhler presented the national players and the coaching staff with the silver laurel leaf on August 14, 2006 . Jürgen Klinsmann also received the Federal Cross of Merit in February 2007 , not least for his reform course for modern training and playing methods in German football, to which he remained loyal despite harsh criticism. Nevertheless, after the tournament, Klinsmann stated that he would not renew his contract as coach of the national team because he said he felt burned out and wanted to spend more time with his family in California again. The DFB appointed on the same day the previous assistant coach Joachim Loew as Klinsmann's successor, since he could continue the best from the perspective of those responsible Klinsmann's training methods and work.

According to a representative survey by the European Tourism Institute (ETI) in Trier, 96% of Germans were of the opinion that Germany was a good host during the soccer World Cup. In addition, 93% of those questioned found the foreign football fans to be pleasant.

Image gain abroad

All over the world they were positively surprised at the dedication with which Germany celebrated the World Cup. Above all, the fact that "exotic" teams were received and cheered with dignity caused a fundamental change in the image of Germany abroad.

The example of England shows concrete changes in society: Before the World Cup, Germany was often associated with the time of National Socialism and Adolf Hitler . According to studies by the Edge Hill University , this negative image was particularly shaped by the English schools, because there Germany was practically only discussed in the context of the Second World War . In the meantime, German history after 1945 has also been included in the curriculum, and there was a sudden increase in registrations for language courses at the British Goethe Institutes immediately after the World Cup .

A typical statement about the change of opinion about Germany in England comes from the football expert Oliver Holt, who works for the Daily Mirror and the ARD said after the World Cup:

“My grandparents had a map on the wall showing the advance of the Nazis. That was always in her consciousness. The terrible memories were too strong. But that changes with the new generation. "

The sporting quality of the tournament

In terms of sport, the 2006 World Cup was above all further evidence of the increasing tactical character of the game.

Especially in the final round, when two first-class teams faced each other in every game, safety and discipline played the greatest role. Since, unlike at the 2002 World Cup , there were hardly any physical deficits in the individual teams, comparatively few goals were scored. Accordingly, many games were only decided in extra time or on penalties. It is significant that more than three goals were scored in the final round only in the rather insignificant game for third place and in the round of 16 between Spain and France.

Something similar also became clear in the group stage, when the playful deficiencies of individual teams were largely compensated for by excellent athleticism and good defensive play. Outsiders like Trinidad and Tobago or Angola were able to keep up with much stronger opponents and even bring them to the brink of defeat. This was mostly done at the expense of attractive offensive football, so that many group games did not have the quality known from the previous European championship .

From a tactical point of view, it was particularly noticeable that with the exception of Germany, all semi-finalists switched from a 4-4-2 system with a back four in defense, a diamond in midfield and two strikers to a 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 system, in which two classic "sixes" played in front of the defense, creating a more defensive basic order. This was compensated by foregoing a second striker, so that the remaining storm peaks such as the Portuguese Pauleta , France's Thierry Henry or the Italian Luca Toni were on their own and were rarely able to prevail against the defense of the opponent.

Despite Zinédine Zidane's election as the best player of the tournament, this World Cup will therefore be remembered primarily for the excellent defensive performance. The Italian team in particular provided three of the best players in the tournament with their defensive players Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluca Zambrotta and midfield director Andrea Pirlo . It also fits in with the fact that with Miroslav Klose, for the first time since 1962, a player with fewer than six goals became the top scorer at a World Cup.

Facilitation Payments

According to a report by Der Spiegel magazine from October 2015, there is a secret paper dated November 23, 2004 with a handwritten note from the then, now resigned DFB President Wolfgang Niersbach , according to which the Franco-Swiss entrepreneur Robert Louis-Dreyfus († 2009), At that time CEO of Adidas , who is said to have lent the German application committee 10.3 million Swiss francs (approx. 13 million German marks) as a private person before the World Cup was awarded. According to Spiegel, the money was used to buy the FIFA decision to hold the 2006 World Cup in Germany. According to Spiegel, this sum, presumably borrowed to buy votes in the spring of 2000, does not appear in the official DM 20 million budget. When Dreyfus later reclaimed the money - now 6.7 million euros - it is said to have been transferred back in 2005 via a discreet FIFA account set up at a Swiss financial institution (not identical to the FIFA house bank). The promissory note that Louis-Dreyfus received is said to have signed Franz Beckenbauer, who also had a contract with Adidas. According to Spiegel research, the German media entrepreneur Leo Kirch († 2011) is said to have been involved in the affair. The marketing company CWL, led by Günter Netzer, is also said to have been involved in dubious payments to members of the FIFA Executive Committee. Payments from the church and the CWL went to officials and national associations in Malta, Trinidad / Tobago, the USA, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand.

In a meeting in July 2013 at Frankfurt Airport with Theo Zwanziger , Niersbach, Horst R. Schmidt , Franz Beckenbauer and his advisor Fedor Radmann , the subject is said to have come up in connection with the bankruptcy of the Swiss sports rights agency ISL . Zwanziger had advertised the establishment of a DFB's own intelligence committee, but this was never implemented.

After the Spiegel report was published, Niersbach and Radmann denied bribery payments or the existence of black funds . The former FIFA media director Guido Tognoni and the Bundestag sports committee chairman Dagmar Freitag ( SPD ) spoke of a possible campaign or a possible plot against Niersbach. Niersbach also announced legal action against the Spiegel ; after his resignation, however, interim DFB President Rainer Koch announced that they would, however, forego it.

On October 22, 2015, Niersbach gave a press conference in which he presented his version of the events. According to this, a conversation between Franz Beckenbauer and the now banned FIFA President Sepp Blatter took place in 2002 in order to ensure that Germany could receive a subsidy for hosting the World Cup. Blatter had promised a grant of 250 million Swiss francs (170 million euros), but left the clarification to the FIFA Finance Committee. The latter only approved the grant on the condition that you (?) Transfer ten million Swiss francs in return. Since the German World Cup organizing committee did not yet have its own funds, Beckenbauer initially wanted to advance the money from his private assets. But his adviser allegedly advised Beckenbauer against it; therefore the money was borrowed from Louis Dreyfus. Niersbach was only able to answer a few questions at the press conference and pointed to gaps in memory. FIFA and Blatter disagreed with Niersbach's account, as did Theo Zwanziger, who accused his successor in office of lying. After the tax investigation had searched both the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt am Main and Niersbach's private residence in Dreieich and the public prosecutor had investigated Zwanziger and the former DFB general secretary Horst R. Schmidt for tax evasion in a particularly serious case, Niersbach announced on November 9th 2015 announced his immediate resignation from the office of DFB President. He is drawing the "political consequence" from the affair surrounding the 2006 World Cup, even if he has nothing to blame himself for in the areas of marketing, media, accreditation and event organization assigned to him.

The 380-page test report of an examination of the World Cup award by the law firm Freshfields , initiated by the DFB management, came to the conclusion in 2016 that the World Cup had not been "bought". Der Spiegel magazine criticized the investigation, which is said to have cost around nine million euros, as a “courtesy report”. The public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt criticized the association's willingness to cooperate as "severely limited", similar to that of the law firm.

A draft contract that emerged in 2017 from the empire of media mogul Leo Kirch , on the other hand, suggests the opposite, according to Der Spiegel . The contract regulated four planned friendlies for FC Bayern Munich in countries from which FIFA decision-makers came. For these games, Kirch bought the broadcasting rights at "absurdly high prices". In addition, KirchMedia had signed a one million dollar consultancy contract with the Lebanese Elias Zaccour, although he had no experience with the media, but was nevertheless considered to be very well networked with the FIFA Executive Committee. Two weeks later the contract amount was increased to two million dollars, one million dollars had already been paid into a Luxembourg account, the second should be paid on the day after the World Cup decision at the earliest.

In March 2017, Der Spiegel reported 6.7 million euros that had been paid by the DFB to the elector bin Hammam from Qatar two years after the World Cup decision . In May 2018, the Frankfurt am Main public prosecutor brought charges against Zwanziger, Niersbach and Schmidt for tax evasion . She accuses them of the fact that the DFB settled a private loan from Dreyfus to Beckenbauer with the 2005 payment and later illegally claimed it as a business expense.

In August 2019, the Swiss Federal Prosecutor brought charges against former DFB officials Theo Zwanziger , Wolfgang Niersbach and Horst R. Schmidt in the affair of the 2006 World Cup . Zwanziger and Schmidt, as well as the former Fifa general secretary Urs Linsi , were accused of complicity in fraud, and Niersbach was accused of assisting in fraud. The proceedings should have taken place before the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona . The start of the process was scheduled for March 9, 2020, but was postponed on the same day by the panel around President Sylvia Frei, as all DFB officials were absent without excuse: two could have produced a medical certificate, but nobody claimed that they were unable to travel. The three Germans were asked to appear in Bellinzona on March 11th.

On April 20, 2020, the Federal Criminal Court suspended the proceedings until the statute of limitations commenced on April 27. There was no longer any judgment.

literature

• Monica Lierhaus : Germany 2006. The book about the World Cup. The Football World Cup Book. Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-360-01285-2 .
• Gisela Ross-Strajahr: Football World Cup 2006. Social science aspects. An overview of social science research . (SowiOnline series). Information center for social sciences of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialwissenschaftlicher Instituts ( Gesis ), Bonn 4/2006, OCLC 315853476 , ISSN  1616-3893 .
• Florian Ruhs : Security and order at major football events . GRIN Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-640-34705-6 .
• Sönke Wortmann : Germany. A summer fairy tale. The World Cup diary. Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Cologne 2006, ISBN 978-3-462-03759-3 .
• Elmar Vieregge : The 2006 World Cup and German right-wing extremism . In: Martin HW Möllers, Robert Chr. Van Ooyen (Ed.): Yearbook Public Safety 2006/2007 . Frankfurt a. M. 2007, ISBN 978-3-86676-000-4 , pp. 137-145

Web links

Commons : Football World Cup 2006  - collection of images

 Wikinews: World Cup themed portal  - in the news

• FIFA World Cup 2006 website
• Football World Cup 2006 - final report by the federal government

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ham and cuckoo clocks offered. In: Spiegel Online. July 7, 2000, accessed February 1, 2021 . 
2. ↑ What Dempsey said about the allegations . In: 20 minutes from July 16, 2012
3. ^ FIFA World Cup 2006: Results of First Two Rounds of Voting , FIFA.com. July 6, 2000. Archived from the original on April 23, 2008. Retrieved March 29, 2008. 
4. ↑ Scandal about German application: Black box office - 2006 World Cup presumably bought. SPIEGELnet GmbH , October 16, 2015, accessed on October 16, 2015 . 
5. ^ Spiegel Online: "WM 2006: Bremen, Gladbach and Düsseldorf watch" , April 15, 2002
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w} The number of seats in the stadiums during the World Cup is based on official information from FIFA ( memo of 14 December 2006 on the Internet Archives ).
7. ↑ ftd.de: Harsh criticism of dull World Cup turf ( Memento from June 28, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
8. ↑ Sebastian Bickerich, Robert Ide: Team spirit flutters. Why there are so many long shots at the World Cup. In: Der Tagesspiegel online. June 19, 2006, accessed December 15, 2010 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} World Championship - game day / table . kicker.de
10. ↑ Cai Philippsen: Free penalty saves Italy. In: faz.de. June 26, 6, accessed July 11, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Suspected manipulation in the Bundesliga - ex-professional confirms attempted bribery. In: sueddeutsche.de. September 1, 2008, accessed July 7, 2012 . 
12. ↑ Player statistics Miroslav Klose . dfb.de
13. ↑ Carefree start . dradio.de
14. ↑ Security, but not a security world championship. In: heute.de. March 30, 2006, archived from the original on October 16, 2007 ; Retrieved July 7, 2012 . 
15. ↑ FIFA and Fair Play. In: fifa.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2006 ; Retrieved July 7, 2012 . 
16. ↑ Revision of Article 55 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code. (PDF) In: fifa.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2006 ; Retrieved July 7, 2012 . 
17. ↑ ^{a b} Football against Racism at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In: fifa.com. June 9, 2006, accessed July 7, 2012 . 
18. ↑ fifa.com: Press briefing with FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter. May 19, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2012 . 
19. ↑ Notker Blechner: Hangover with the World Cup sponsors? In: boerse.ard.de. July 6, 2006, archived from the original on February 16, 2007 ; Retrieved July 7, 2012 . 
20. ↑ Prices slow down World Cup ticket sales . , faz.net of November 10, 2005 (accessed February 13, 2014).
21. ↑ No entry with VIP tickets? In: faz.net. May 29, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2012 . 
22. ↑ General Ticket Terms and Conditions of the DFB e. V. In: fifaworldcup.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on March 9, 2007 ; Retrieved July 7, 2012 . 
23. ^ André Görke: No ticket? No problem! The Olympic Stadium is said to be sold out - but numerous World Cup tickets are available on the market. In: Der Tagesspiegel . June 30, 2006, accessed December 15, 2010 . 
24. ↑ Football drives growth . In: Die Zeit online , December 2006 (also: Die ZEIT , No. 52/2006, p. 33?)
25. ↑ The Football World Cup 2006: No economically measurable benefit, but profits for football and the pub owners. Press release from DIW Berlin, April 18, 2007, accessed on July 7, 2012 . 
26. ↑ Claudia Klemp: Economy benefits from World Cup in Germany. In: reporter7.com. July 13, 2006, accessed July 7, 2012 . 
27. ↑ Ifo Index - The World Cup euphoria spills over. In: sueddeutsche.de. June 27, 2006, accessed July 7, 2012 . 
28. ↑ stern.de: Growth like it has not been for a long time ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
29. ↑ Ifo business climate: World Cup euphoria finally over. In: focus.de. July 26, 2006, accessed July 7, 2012 . 
30. ↑ 135 million euros surplus at WM. In: sport.ard.de. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007 ; Retrieved July 7, 2012 . 
31. ↑ https://www.stern.de/sport/fussball/wm-2006/news/wm-experten--spruecheklopper--und-analysten-3598390.html
32. ↑ miha. / FAZ and FAZ.NET with material from AP / dpa: Beckmann in the final - Rubenbauer no longer plays. In: FAZ.net . March 15, 2006, accessed October 13, 2018 . 
33. ↑ https://www.dwdl.de/nachrichten/6572/fuballlegende_pel_verstrkt_zdfteam_bei_wm_2006/
34. ↑ Blatter speaks of "the best World Cup of all time" Handelsblatt (interview)
35. ↑ Fear of the Nation . In: Die Zeit online , 2006
36. ^ Arnd Krüger : Sport and Identity in Germany since Reunification. Philip Dine & Seán Crosson (Eds.): Sport, representation and evolving identities in Europe. Bern: P. Lang 2010, 289-316
37. ↑ To the question “Are you proud to be German?” 7% more respondents answered yes than before the World Cup. uni-marburg.de The Marburg researchers, however, interpret this as an increase in nationalism, not national pride .
38. ^ Elmar Vieregge: The soccer world championship 2006 and the German right-wing extremism . In: Martin HW Möllers, Robert Chr. Van Ooyen (Ed.): Yearbook Public Safety 2006/2007 . Frankfurt a. M. 2007, pp. 137-145
39. ↑ Germany was a good World Cup host . In: Hamburger Morgenpost , September 29, 2006, accessed on July 7, 2012
40. ↑ Goodbye, Germany - Wamkelekele eMzansi, Africa! de.fifa.com, accessed June 26, 2014
41. ^ War of Words . ( September 30, 2012 memento on the Internet Archive ) Edge Hill University
42. ↑ ARD , ttt - titel, thesen, temperamente , August 7, 2006, archive.
43. ^ Emilio Marrese: Killed football. The World Cup criticism from an Italian reporter. In: Der Tagesspiegel . July 11, 2006, accessed December 15, 2010 . 
44. ↑ Holger Osieck's balance sheet: "It wasn't the World Cup for Superstars" . kicker.de
45. ↑ Jürgen Dahlkamp, ​​Gunther Latsch, Udo Ludwig, Jörg Schmitt, Jens Weinreich: Summer, sun, black money . In: Der Spiegel , October 17, 2015, No. 43, p. 10 ff.
46. ↑ Jörg Schmitt, Ralf Wiegand: Summer fairy tale: With these tricks, the 2006 World Cup came to Germany. Retrieved December 11, 2020 . 
47. ↑ Jürgen Dahlkamp, ​​Gunther Latsch: Golden nose. Summer fairy tale. Previously unknown documents support the suspicion that the 2006 World Cup was bought . In: Der Spiegel , December 12, 2020, No. 51, p. 94 ff.
48. ↑ Jürgen Dahlkamp, ​​Gunther Latsch, Udo Ludwig, Jörg Schmitt, Jens Weinreich: Summer, sun, black money . In: Der Spiegel , October 17, 2015, No. 43, p. 10 ff.
49. ↑ 2006 World Cup: Niersbach and Radmann denials - no bribe payments, no black coffers at eurosport.de, September 17, 2015 (accessed on September 19, 2015).
50. ^ After Niersbach's resignation: DFB waives legal action against SPIEGEL at Spiegel Online , November 9, 2015 (accessed on November 9, 2015).
51. ↑ Zauels, Frederic: PK World Cup assignment: His name is Niersbach, he knew nothing at Spiegel Online , October 22, 2015 (accessed on 24 October 2015).
52. ↑ 2006 World Cup awards: Fifa contradicts Niersbach's version of the million dollar payment at Spiegel Online , October 22, 2015 (accessed on October 24, 2015).
53. ↑ Theo Zwanziger on the 2006 World Cup application: "It is clear that there was a black box office" at Spiegel Online , October 23, 2015 (accessed October 24, 2015).
54. ^ Affair about the 2006 World Cup: DFB President Niersbach resigns from Spiegel Online , November 9, 2015 (accessed November 9, 2015).
55. ↑ Niersbach resigns as DFB President at dfb.de, November 9, 2015 (accessed November 9, 2015).
56. ↑ ^{a b c} Rafael Buschmann, Jürgen Dahlkamp, ​​Gunther Latsch, Jörg Schmitt: Mercenaries of Truth . In: Der Spiegel . No. 13 , 2017, p. 96-98 ( Online - Mar. 25, 2017 ).
57. ↑ Zwanziger and Niersbach charged with tax evasion. Spiegel Online, May 23, 2018, accessed on the same day.
58. ^ Affair around the 2006 World Cup: Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office accuses former DFB officials . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed August 6, 2019]).
59. ^ Henry Habegger: False start to the "summer fairy tale" process in Bellinzona. St. Galler Tagblatt, March 9, 2020, accessed on March 9, 2020 . 
60. ↑ https://www.sport1.de/fussball/2020/04/sommermaerchen-prozess-vs-niersbach-zwanziger-wird-eingetzt
61. ↑ The summer fairy tale process is statute-barred. Retrieved April 27, 2020 . 

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on August 7, 2006 .