2002 FIFA World Cup


The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national association football teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea and Japan, with its final match hosted by Japan at International Stadium in Yokohama.
A field of 32 teams qualified for this World Cup, which was the first to be held in Asia, the first to be held outside of the Americas or Europe, as well as the first to be jointly-hosted by more than one nation. China, Ecuador, Senegal and Slovenia made their World Cup debuts.
The tournament had several upsets and surprise results, which included the defending champions France being eliminated in the group stage after earning a single point and second favourites Argentina also being eliminated in the group stage. South Korea [|controversially] managed to reach the semi-finals, beating Portugal, Italy and Spain en route, thus becoming the first and only team from outside Europe and the Americas to reach the last four of a World Cup. However, the most potent team at the tournament, Brazil, prevailed, winning the final against Germany 2–0, making them the first and only country to have won the World Cup five times. The victory qualified Brazil for the 2003 and subsequently 2005 FIFA Confederations Cups, its fourth and fifth Confederations Cup appearance in a row. In the third place play-off match against South Korea, Turkey won 3–2, taking third place in only their second ever FIFA World Cup, and scored the fastest goal in the FIFA World Cup history.
The 2002 World Cup was also the last one to use the golden goal rule.

Host selection

South Korea and Japan were selected as hosts by FIFA on 31 May 1996. Initially, South Korea, Japan and Mexico presented three rival bids. South Korea's entry into the race was seen by some as a response to the bid of political and sporting rival Japan. FIFA leaders were split on whom to favor as host as politics within the world governing body held sway. With Mexico regarded as a long shot, the battle to host the tournament came down to Japan and South Korea. The two Asian rivals went on a massive and expensive PR blitz around the world, prompting Sultan Ahmad Shah, the head of the Asian Football Confederation, to step in. FIFA boss Joao Havelange had long backed the Japanese bid, but his rival in FIFA, UEFA chief Lennart Johansson, sought to undermine Havelange's plans. UEFA and the AFC viewed cohosting between the two Asian rivals as the best option. Japan and South Korea were finally faced with a choice of having no World Cup or a shared World Cup and they reluctantly chose to go along with co-hosting. South Korea and Japan were chosen unanimously as co-hosts in preference to Mexico. This was the first World Cup to be hosted by more than one country, the second being the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. The general secretary of South Korea's bidding committee, Song Young-shik, stated that FIFA was interested in staging some matches in North Korea in order to aid Korean reunification, but it was ruled out.
At the time the decision was made, Japan had never qualified for a World Cup finals. The only other countries to have been awarded a World Cup without previously having competed in a final tournament are Italy in 1934 and Qatar in 2022.
The unusual choice of host proved an issue for football fans in Europe, used to watching international matches on or close to their time zone. With games taking place in the European morning, some schools and businesses chose to open late on match days or set up communal watching events before the start of work.

Qualification

199 teams attempted to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. The qualification process began with the preliminary draw held in Tokyo on 7 December 1999. Defending champions France and co-hosts South Korea and Japan qualified automatically and did not have to play any qualification matches. This was the final World Cup in which the defending champions qualified automatically.
14 places were contested by UEFA teams, five by CAF teams, four by CONMEBOL teams, four by AFC teams and three by CONCACAF teams. The remaining two places were decided by playoffs between AFC and UEFA and between CONMEBOL and OFC. Four nations qualified for the finals for the first time: China, Ecuador, Senegal and Slovenia. As of 2019, this was the last time the Republic of Ireland, Turkey and China qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals, as well as the last time Australia and Switzerland failed to qualify.
Turkey qualified for the first time since 1954, Poland and Portugal both qualified for the first time since 1986 and Costa Rica and Uruguay qualified for the first time since 1990. Sweden, Russia and the Republic of Ireland also returned after missing the 1998 World Cup. 1998 semi-finalists the Netherlands, three-time participants in the 1990s Romania, Colombia and Norway, and Bulgaria and Morocco, who had participated in the previous two finals tournaments, alongside Iran which participated in the latest edition, failed to qualify, while South Korea set a record by appearing in a fifth successive finals tournament, the first nation from outside Europe or the Americas to achieve this feat.
All seven previous World Cup-winning nations qualified, which broke the record of most previous champions at a tournament before the record was broken again in 2014. The highest ranked team not to qualify was Colombia, while the lowest ranked team that did qualify was China PR.

List of qualified teams

The following 32 teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, qualified for the final tournament:
;AFC
;CAF
;OFC
;CONCACAF
;CONMEBOL
;UEFA

Venues

South Korea and Japan each provided 10 venues, the vast majority of them newly built for the tournament. Groups A–D played all their matches in South Korea and Groups E–H played all their matches in Japan. The stadiums in Daegu, Suwon, Yokohama and Saitama all hosted 4 matches each, while the other 16 stadiums hosted 3 matches each. Notably, no matches were played in Tokyo, making it the second capital of a host country not to have a World Cup venue.
There was much controversy over the refereeing in the tournament. Questionable decisions in the match between Italy and South Korea resulted in 400,000 complaints, and featured in ESPN's 10 most fabled World Cup controversies. The match between Spain and South Korea featured two controversially disallowed Spanish goals, which Iván Helguera referred to as "a robbery" and led to Spanish press brandishing the officials "thieves of dreams", though FIFA dismissed the incident as human error.

Squads

This was the first World Cup that featured squads of 23 players, an increase from 22 previously. Of the 23 players, 3 must be goalkeepers.

Draw

The eight seeded teams for the 2002 tournament were announced on 28 November 2001. The seeds comprised Pot A in the draw. Pot B contained the remaining 11 European sides; Pot C contained five unseeded qualifiers from CONMEBOL and AFC. Pot D contained unseeded sides from the CONCACAF region and Africa. This was the last FIFA World Cup with the defending champion in Group A. Since 2006, the host nation has automatically drawn to Group A.
Pot APot BPot CPot D

    • Before the draw, it was arranged that the last three teams in Pot B would be drawn into four groups which did not already contain two European teams and one would be left without a second European team. This was ultimately Group C. No group could contain more than two European teams, no unseeded South American team could be drawn with Brazil or Argentina and no unseeded Asian team could be drawn with South Korea or Japan.
    France, as holders were automatically placed in Group A, South Korea were placed in Group D and Japan were placed in Group H. One of the two South American seeds had to play in a group played in South Korea and the other had to play in a group played in Japan. In Pot C, China had to play in South Korea which meant that the other Asian team in Pot C had to play in Japan. In Pot D, two or three African teams and one or two CONCACAF teams had to play in either South Korea or Japan.
    On 1 December 2001, the draw was held and the group assignments and order of fixtures were determined. Group F was considered the group of death, as it brought together Argentina, England, Nigeria and Sweden.

    Group stage

    All times are Korea Standard Time and Japan Standard Time

    Groups A, B, C, D based in South Korea. Groups E, F, G, H based in Japan.
    In the following tables:
    The teams in the group play were ranked upon
    In the original version of the rules for the final tournament, the ranking criteria were in a different order, with head-to-head results taking precedence over total goal difference. The rules were changed to the above in advance of the tournament, but older versions were still available on the FIFA and UEFA websites, causing some confusion among those trying to identify the correct criteria.

    Group A

    Group A involved the defending champions France, along with Senegal, Uruguay and Denmark. The World Cup started with a 1–0 defeat of France, playing without the injured Zinedine Zidane, by tournament newcomers Senegal in the tournament's opening match held in Seoul, South Korea. On the next day, two goals by Jon Dahl Tomasson gave the Danes a 2–1 victory over Uruguay in Ulsan.
    In the second set of Group A matches, France were held to a 0–0 draw in Busan by Uruguay after star striker Thierry Henry was sent off, while in Daegu, Denmark and Senegal drew 1–1.
    A 2–0 defeat by Denmark in their last group game in Incheon sealed France's elimination from the World Cup.
    France went out of the Cup without even managing to score a goal and earned the unwanted record of the worst World Cup performance by World Cup holders other than Uruguay in 1934, which refused to defend the title.
    Senegal drew with Uruguay to clinch their place in the second round, despite Uruguay coming back from 3–0 down to draw 3–3, in their last group game in Suwon. The South Americans could not find the fourth goal that would have kept them in the Cup and thus were out of the tournament. At the end, Denmark won Group A with 7 points, followed by Senegal with 5 points. Uruguay were eliminated with 2 points and holders France with 1 point.

    Group B

    in Group B became one of only two teams to pick up maximum points, seeing off both Slovenia and Paraguay 3–1 before defeating South Africa 3–2 in Daejeon.
    Paraguay advanced over a late goal, winning 3–1 over newcomer Slovenia in Seogwipo to tie with South Africa on goal difference. As a result, Paraguay advanced to the second round on the goals scored tiebreaker, scoring six goals compared to South Africa's five.

    Group C

    Group C saw Brazil become the other team to win all three of their Group matches, defeating Turkey 2–1 in Ulsan, China 4–0 in Seogwipo and Costa Rica 5–2 in Suwon.
    Turkey also advanced to the next round, defeating Costa Rica on goal difference after both teams were tied with 4 points each. China, coached by Bora Milutinović, finished bottom of the group with no goals and no points.

    Group D

    Group D saw co-host South Korea, Poland, United States, and Portugal square off against each other. South Korea and Poland started group play in Busan, where South Korea earned their first ever World Cup victory, defeating Poland 2–0. United States shocked group favorites Portugal the next day, defeating them 3–2 in Suwon. South Korea and United States then faced off in Daegu, where excellent goalkeeping by Brad Friedel and Lee Woon-jae resulted in a 1–1 draw, while a hat-trick by Pauleta gave the Portuguese a comfortable 4–0 win against Poland in Jeonju. In the final round of group games, South Korea eliminated Portugal in Incheon thanks to a 70th-minute goal by Park Ji-sung, finishing the game 1–0 victors, while Poland defeated the United States 3–1 in Daejeon to gain a consolation victory. South Korea topped the group and advanced beyond the first round for the first time ever with seven points, while the United States placed second with four points. Portugal and Poland were eliminated with three points each in third and fourth places respectively.

    Group E

    Group E saw Germany play against Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Ireland and Cameroon. Ireland and Cameroon started group play in Niigata in a 1–1 draw, while Germany thrashed Saudi Arabia 8–0 in Sapporo. In Ibaraki, Germany held a 1–0 lead over the Republic of Ireland thanks to a 19th-minute goal by Miroslav Klose, only to draw 1–1 due to a sensational 92nd-minute equaliser by Robbie Keane. Saudi Arabia bowed out of the tournament with a 1–0 defeat against Cameroon in Saitama, thanks to a second-half goal by Samuel Eto'o. In the final matches of Group E, Germany sent Cameroon out of the tournament, winning 0–2 in Shizuoka with goals by Marco Bode and Miroslav Klose, while Ireland defeated Saudi Arabia 3–0 in Yokohama with goals by Robbie Keane, Gary Breen and Damien Duff. Germany advanced with seven points and Ireland followed along with five points, while Cameroon was eliminated with four points. Saudi Arabia produced the poorest performance of all the teams at the tournament, being eliminated without a single point or goal and conceding 12 goals.

    Group F

    Group F was nicknamed the "group of death", featuring Argentina, Nigeria, England and Sweden. Argentina won their opening game in Ibaraki 1–0 against Nigeria thanks to a second-half goal by Gabriel Batistuta, while in Saitama England and Sweden drew 1–1 thanks to goals by Sol Campbell and Niclas Alexandersson. Sweden and Nigeria faced off in Kobe, where two goals by Henrik Larsson eliminated Nigeria 2–1. Meanwhile, in Sapporo, England won 1–0 over Argentina, thanks to a David Beckham penalty kick. In the final matches of Group F, England and Nigeria drew 0–0 in Osaka, while Sweden and Argentina drew 1–1 in Miyagi. Sweden and England advanced from Group F, first and second respectively with five points each, at the expense of Argentina's four points, while Nigeria finished last with one point. This was the first time since 1962 that Argentina had failed to advance to the second round.

    Group G

    Group G saw Italy, Ecuador, Croatia and Mexico play against each other. Niigata saw the start of the group games, with Mexico winning 1–0 over Croatia, thanks to a penalty converted by Cuauhtémoc Blanco. Later that night in Sapporo, Italy defeated newcomers Ecuador 2–0 with ease, having both goals scored by Christian Vieri. Italy and Croatia faced off a few days later in Ibaraki, where Croatia pulled off a surprise 2–1 victory over Italy. The next day saw Mexico earn a vital 2–1 victory over Ecuador in Miyagi. In the final matches of Group G, Mexico and Italy drew 1–1 in Ōita, while Ecuador achieved their first ever World Cup victory, defeating Croatia 1–0 in Yokohama. Mexico won Group G with seven points, while Italy survived with four points. Croatia and Ecuador were eliminated with three points in third and fourth places respectively, with the former failing to repeat its surprise performance from 1998 despite their victory against Italy.

    Group H

    Group H saw co-hosts Japan square off against Belgium, Russia and Tunisia. Japan earned their first World Cup points in a spectacular 2–2 draw against Belgium in Saitama, while Russia earned a 2–0 victory over Tunisia in Kobe. Japan would get their first ever World Cup victory a few days later in Yokohama, defeating Russia 1–0 through a second-half goal by Junichi Inamoto, while Belgium and Tunisia drew 1–1 in Ōita. In the final matches of Group H, Japan defeated Tunisia with ease, winning 0–2 in Osaka, while Belgium survived against Russia in Shizuoka, winning 3–2. Japan won Group H with seven points, while Belgium advanced with five points. Russia was eliminated with three points and Tunisia was eliminated with one point.

    Knockout stage

    For the second round, quarter-finals and semi-finals, the qualifiers from Groups A, C, F and H played their games in Japan while the qualifiers from Groups B, D, E and G played their games in South Korea. Daegu, South Korea, hosted the third-place match while Yokohama, Japan, hosted the final.

    Round of 16

    In the round of 16, Germany beat Paraguay 1–0 with a late goal by Oliver Neuville in Seogwipo. England defeated Denmark in Niigata 3–0, with all goals occurring in the first half of the game. Sweden and Senegal faced off in Ōita and finished 1–1 in regular time and it took a golden goal from Henri Camara in extra time to settle the game for Senegal 2–1. Spain and Ireland played in Suwon, where Spain led most of the match 1–0 until a late penalty kick scored by Robbie Keane made the match go to extra time, where Spain emerged victorious in a penalty shoot-out. The United States beat CONCACAF rivals Mexico 2–0 in Jeonju with Brian McBride and Landon Donovan scoring the goals. Brazil defeated Belgium 2–0 in Kobe, with an amazing volley by Rivaldo and a splendid counter-attack goal by Ronaldo. Turkey ended co-hosts Japan's run with a 1–0 win in Miyagi, thanks to a Ümit Davala goal in the 12th minute. The other co-hosts, South Korea, defeated Italy 2–1 in extra time in Daejeon with a goal by Ahn Jung-hwan in the 117th minute, after a match filled with many controversial refereeing decisions. South Korea's win ensured that, for the very first time in the Cup's history, teams from five continents – Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia – reached the quarter-finals of the same tournament.
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    Quarter-finals

    In the quarter-finals, England and Brazil squared off in Shizuoka, where Ronaldinho scored a free-kick goal over England's David Seaman early in the second half as Brazil won 2–1. The United States lost to Germany 1–0 in Ulsan by a Michael Ballack goal in the 39th minute, but controversy surrounded the game when United States demanded the referee give a penalty for a goal-line handball by Torsten Frings in the 49th minute, but the referee did not award the penalty. South Korea got another success in Gwangju in a controversial manner, overcoming Spain 5–3 on penalties after a 0–0 draw in which the Spaniards twice thought they had scored while onside; however, the efforts were disallowed by the referee with controversial decisions. The hosts became the first team in the Asian Football Confederation to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, eclipsing the record of their North Korean counterparts who reached the quarter-finals in 1966. They also became the first World Cup semi-final team not from UEFA or CONMEBOL since the United States did it in the first World Cup in 1930. Turkey defeated Senegal 1–0 in Osaka, with a golden goal scored by İlhan Mansız in the 93rd minute.
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    Semi-finals

    The semi-finals saw 1-0 games; the first semi-final, played in Seoul, saw Michael Ballack's goal suffice for Germany to eliminate South Korea. However, Ballack had already received a yellow card during the match before, which forced him to miss the final based on accumulated yellow cards. The next day in Saitama saw Ronaldo score a goal early in the second half, his sixth of the competition for Brazil, to defeat Turkey in a replay of their Group C encounter.
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    Third place play-off

    In the third-place match in Daegu, Turkey beat the South Koreans 3–2, their first goal coming from Hakan Şükür straight from the opening kick-off in 10.8 seconds, the fastest ever goal in World Cup history.
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    Final

    In the final match held in Yokohama, Japan, two goals from Ronaldo secured the World Cup for Brazil as they claimed victory over Germany. Ronaldo scored twice in the second half and, after the game, won the Golden Shoe award for the tournament's leading scorer with eight goals. This was the fifth time Brazil had won the World Cup, cementing their status as the most successful national team in the history of the competition. Brazil became the only team since Argentina in 1986 to win the trophy without needing to win a penalty shoot-out at some stage during the knockout phase and the total number of penalty shoot-outs was the lowest since the four-round knockout format was introduced in 1986. Brazil also became the first team to win every match at a World Cup Finals since 1970 and set a new record for highest aggregate goal difference for a World Cup winner. Brazil's captain Cafu, who became the first player to appear in three successive World Cup finals, accepted the trophy on behalf of the team.
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    Statistics

    Goalscorers

    won the Golden Shoe after scoring eight goals. In total, 161 goals were scored by 109 players, with three of them credited as own goals. Two of those own goals were in the same match, marking the first time in FIFA World Cup history that own goals had been scored by both teams in the same match.
    List of goalscorers by number of goals and by country

    Disciplinary statistics

    Awards

    1Oliver Kahn is the only goalkeeper to have won the Golden Ball in FIFA World Cup history.

    All-star team

    Final standings

    After the tournament, FIFA published a ranking of all teams that competed in the 2002 World Cup finals based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition.

    Sponsorship

    The sponsors of the 2002 FIFA World Cup are divided into two categories: FIFA World Cup Sponsors and South Korea and Japan Supporters.

    Ticket sales problem

    The original domestic ticket allocation had fully sold out and the organising committee completed sales of tickets returned from the international allocation by the end of April. However, it was obvious at the opening matches that there were a significant number of empty seats. It was gradually revealed that the World Cup Ticketing Bureau still had unsold tickets in its possession. After FIFA agreed to sell this inventory, JAWOC undertook sales over telephone and WCTB handled the internet sales. For the second round Japan vs. Turkey match in Miyagi in particular, although it was reported by both parties that all tickets had been sold, some 700 seats remained empty.

    Controversies

    The tournament was criticized for many poor and questionable refereeing decisions. South Korea in particular faced scrutiny and allegations of corruption due to the favorable decisions they received in their controversial victories over Portugal in the Group Stages, Italy in the Round of 16 and over Spain in the quarter-finals.

    Cultural event

    The official FIFA cultural event of the 2002 World Cup was a flag festival called Poetry of the Winds. Held in Nanjicheon Park, an area of the World Cup Park close to the stadium, Poetry of the Winds was exhibited from 29 May to 25 June in order to wish success upon the World Cup and promote a festive atmosphere. During the flag art festival, hand-painted flags from global artists were displayed as a greeting to international guests in a manner that was designed to promote harmony.

    Aftermath and legacy

    The tournament had a major economic impact on both South Korea and Japan, generating an estimated US$1.3 billion in revenue. Spending from World Cup tourists in South Korea created US$307 million in direct income and US$713 million in valued added. Japan spent an estimated US$5.6 billion on preparations for the event, which had a US$24.8 billion impact on the Japanese economy and accounted for 0.6% of their GDP in 2002.