| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Karl |
Posted - Sep 30 2003 : 6:17:36 PM
For CONCACAF, the road to the FIFA World Cup 2006 begins next January
30.9.03 - The long, winding road to the FIFA World Cup Finals of Germany 2006 will begin for the 34 CONCACAF entries in a little less than four months time, based on the final format proposal submitted to FIFA.
The first games will be played on the weekend of 17-18 January 2004, with the last ones scheduled for 12 and 16 November 2005; almost two years of intense competition to see who will represent the Confederation in Germany.
The dates used for the extensive qualifying schedule include those set aside in the FIFA International Calendar as well as dates reserved for Confederation and FIFA competitions.
All CONCACAF countries will enter the qualifying competition at the same, first, stage, instead of the more successful teams from previous events being "seeded" into later rounds.
The 34 teams will be divided into ten groups of three and two groups of two, to play home and away to produce 12 qualifiers, the group winners, for the second, semi-final stage. The first stage will be completed by the weekend of 19-20 June in order for the semi-final round to begin on 18 August and end on 17 November 2004.
At the semi-final stage, the twelve qualifiers will be divided into three groups of four, with the top two from each group moving on to the final qualifying stage. The final group of six qualifiers will play, home and away, from 9 February 2005 until 12 October 2005 at which point the three certain CONCACAF qualifiers will be known.
The fourth place team will then face a play-off in mid-November 2005 for a chance to make it four CONCACAF World Cup Finalists for the first time in history.
2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Dates for CONCACAF
2004
Saturday/Sunday, 17-18 January, Preliminary Round Date 1
Wednesday, 21 January, Preliminary Round Date 2
Wednesday, 18 February, Preliminary Round Date 3
Wednesday, 31 March, Preliminary Round Date 4
Saturday/Sunday, 12-13 June, Preliminary Round Date 5
Saturday/Sunday, 19-20 June, Preliminary Round Date 6
Wednesday, 18 August, Semi-Final Round Game 1
Saturday/Sunday, 4-5 September, Semi-Final Round Game 2
Wednesday, 8 September, Semi-Final Round Game 3
Saturday/Sunday, 9-10 October, Semi-Final Round Game 4
Wednesday, 13 October, Semi-Final Round Game 5
Wednesday, 17 November, Semi-Final Round Game 6
2005
Wednesday, 9 February, Final Round Game 1
Saturday/Sunday, 26-27 March, Final Round Game 2
Wednesday, 30 March, Final Round Game 3
Saturday/Sunday, 4-5 June, Final Round Game 4
Wednesday, 8 June, Final Round Game 5
Wednesday, 17 August, Final Round Game 6
Saturday/Sunday, 3-4 September, Final Round Game 7
Wednesday, 7 September, Final Round Game 8
Saturday/Sunday, 8-9 October, Final Round Game 9
Wednesday, 12 October, Final Round Game 10
Saturday, 12 November, Fourth-Place Team Playoff First-leg
Wednesday, 16 November, Fourth-Place Team Playoff Second-leg |
| 1 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Karl |
Posted - Oct 01 2003 : 01:53:53 AM
Qualifying Draw In Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main will take centre stage on 5 December 2003, when FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and a host of VIP guests hold the draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany qualifying groups.
The global football family will gather at the city's Festhalle. A number of FIFA meetings are scheduled ahead of the draw, and the German Organising Committee are also promising an attractive programme of events.
The draw covers qualifying in five of the six confederations: AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North and Central America), UEFA (Europe) and OFC (Oceania and Australia). As always, the nations of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) will compete in a single group for places in the finals.
Schedule
The OC 2006 FIFA World Cup has submitted its proposal concerning key dates for the tournament to FIFA. According to the OC's proposal, the opening game is to be played on 9 June in Mόnchen with the Final taking place a month later on 9 July 2006 in Berlin's Olympiastadion.
The ten other Host Cities are as follows: Dortmund, Frankfurt, Gelsenkrichen, Hamburg, Hannover, Kaiserslautern, Kφln, Leipzig, Mόnchen, Nόrnberg and Stuttgart.
As at France 1998 and Korea/Japan 2002, 32 nations will compete in Germany, with only the hosts qualifying automatically. Defending champions Brazil are required to enter the qualifying tournament this time around.
The FIFA Executive Committee decided on this change for two main reasons. The four years between tournaments is a long time for a team to stay at its peak, and the holders' coaching staff tend to complain at the lack of competitive match practice. The move also frees up an additional place in the finals, leading to a more exciting qualifying tournament.
Finals Draw In Leipzig
The draw for the finals will take place on 10 and 11 December 2005 in Leipzig.
Teams from 32 FIFA nations will go into the hat to decide their first round destiny at the 2006 FIFA World CupTM in Germany.
The provisional date for the opening game is 9 June 2006 at the new Stadion Mόnchen. Each team will play three matches in the group phase, with the best sixteen progressing to the second round.
The final is scheduled for 9 July 2006. Berlin's Olympiastadion is favourite to host the showcase event.
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