Football World Cup 2002 » Winner – Teams – Statistics – History

Participating Teams of the 2002 World Cup Finals

There were 32 teams that qualified for the 2002 World Cup finals. These 32 played in 8 different groups, arranged as follows:

Group A

Denmark

Senegal

Uruguay

France

Group B

Spain

Paraguay

South Africa

Slovenia

Group C

Brazil

Turkey

Costa Rica

China

Group D

South Korea

United States

Portugal

Poland

Group E

Germany

Ireland

Cameroon

Saudi Arabia

Group F

Sweden

England

Argentina

Nigeria

Group G

Mexico

Italy

Croatia

Ecuador

Group H

Japan

Belgium

Russia

Tunisia

After playing against the 3 other teams in their group, the 2 teams with the highest number of points from each group would progress to the knockout stage of the tournament.

Winner of the World Cup 2002

The final game was played out between Germany and Brazil on the 30th June 2002. Unbelievably, it was the first time that these 2 teams had met each other in a World Cup match. Brazil won the game 2-0. With this result, Brazil took home the World Cup trophy for a record 5th time.

Brazil had won all 7 of the games in the tournament without the need for penalties or extra time. Ronaldo scored both of the goals in the second half of the game, bringing his total number of goals scored in the tournament to 15 and winning him the Golden Boot award. It was Germany’s 4th defeat at a World Cup final, a record in itself.

The Story of 2002 FIFA World Cup

Japan and South Korea united to host to 2002 World Cup, the first in Asia. Initially, 199 teams attempted to qualify for the tournament, with only the hosts and defending champions France qualifying automatically (this was to be the last time the defending champions automatically qualify for the event). 32 teams ultimately qualified for the tournament finals, including 7 previous World Cup winning nations.

There were dramatic results very early on in the group stages. Most notably, defending champions France lost the very first game of the tournament 1-0 to newcomers Senegal. By the end of the group stages, France were languishing at the bottom of their group with no wins, one point and a plane trip back home. Second favourites Argentina were also knocked out in the group stages, amassing just 4 points. With 2 of the big names out, spectators could look forward to unexpected clashes and progressions through the knockout stages.

Whilst there were no great upsets in the second round, it was time for hosts Japan to leave after losing 1-0 to Turkey. South Korea, on the other hand, beat Italy to ensure that, for the very first time, there was team representation in the quarter finals from Europe, South America, North America, Africa and Asia.

The quarter finals saw controversy surrounding the progression of Germany and South Korea. Germany beat America 1-0, though America felt that they should have been given a penalty for a goal-line handball by their opponents in the 49th minute. They were denied. Even more memorable, South Korea best Spain 5-3 on penalties following a 0-0 draw, during which Spain twice thought they had scored. Both goals were declared offside by the referee.

The set up for the semis saw Germany take on South Korea and Brazil play Turkey, both teams easily beating their opponents. the match for third place then saw Turkey beat the hosts, who had made it further than any other Asian Football Confederation Team in the tournament.

The trophy was collected by Brazil’s captain Cafu, who had become the first player to play in 3 consecutive World Cup finals.