The 2006 FIFA World Cup is the current FIFA World Cup, the finals of which are being held in Germany. The FIFA World Cup is the football (soccer) world championship, contested by men’s national football teams, and organized by FIFA, the international governing body for football. The championship cycle culminates every four years in a finals tournament to decide which country’s men’s football team will be awarded the FIFA World Cup title. The host country and football federation for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals tournament is Germany, who in June 2000, won the right to host the event, beating bids from South Africa (which will host the 2010 World Cup), Brazil, England and Morocco. The 2006 FIFA World Cup, the eighteenth such championship, began in December 2003 with 198 countries entering the draw for a series of qualification tournaments and play-offs that resulted in 32 national teams qualifying for the finals tournament. The finals tournament of the 2006 World Cup began on 9 June 2006 and is scheduled to end on 9 July 2006. A total of 64 games will be played. The first stage was the group stage, where the 32 teams were divided into 8 groups of 4 teams each. The teams in these groups of four competed in three-round round-robin tournaments to find two teams from each group (a total of 16) to advance to the knock-out stage. The group stage was completed on 23 June 2006. The knockout stage started on 24 June 2006, and progressive elimination of teams through quarter-finals and semi-finals, will finish with the World Cup Final to be played on 9 July 2006. The World Cup Final played in Berlin will determine the World Cup winner.
by Thomas Jefferson
