2006 FIFA World Cup, 2006 World Cup Soccer, World Cup Germany

ALSO! Click here for the latest World Cup lines.

The big four of sports in America have nothing on the most popular sport in the world. Check the rankings out of which sport is most commonly played throughout the world and it won’t be baseball, football, basketball and hockey. No, that honor goes to soccer, or futbol as it's called in Europe, and the rankings aren’t even close.

Every four years, there is a tournament that holds the attention of mankind much like the NCAA basketball tournament consumes the televisions of people in the US. Soccer is played on every single continent and the World Cup is the most viewed event in the world.

This year’s honored host is Germany, where 12 of its cities will provide the playgrounds for the Tournament. A cumulative in-home audience of 28.8 billion viewers watched Brazil win the Cup in 2002 when Japan/Korea hosted the tournament.

Eight groupings, 32 teams and, at the risk of sounding like a Survivor promo, only one team will be crowned FIFA World Champion. As a current ESPN commercial states, no other sport in the universe brings countries, athletes and fans together like the World Cup.

Action kicks off June 9th with the final match scheduled for July 9.

World Cup Preview

Find group previews, team-by-team analysis, a soccer primer and more with Bullz-Eye's 2006 World Cup Preview.

Featured Site

SRSoccer.com
Blog about all things soccer, including the 2006 World Cup, at SRSoccer.com, part of the Scores Report Blog Network.

Top Information Websites

FIFA World Cup.com
The official site dedicated to the 2006 World Cup held in Germany.

FIFA.com
The official website of the Federation International Football Association.

USsoccer.com
Full page dedicated to the United States Soccer Team.

SoccerTimes.com
All things soccer can be found at this site, including news on the MLS, World Cup and even youth leagues.

SoccerAmerica.com
Detailed information about the US National team as well as MLS leagues and college programs.

World Soccer Page
Compressive news on all world soccer teams.

Soccernet.com
ESPN’s site devoted to everything soccer.

SI.com
CNN/SI’s soccer site that includes insightful articles, a page devoted to truth and rumors surrounding soccer’s biggest news as well as FIFA team rankings.

World Cup Blog

Courtesy of SRSoccer.com

Mostly Baffled, But There Are Some Answers: I’m big enough to admit it. I have no idea what the hell is going on. Does Rafa Benitez have any idea what he’s doing at Liverpool? By almost everyone’s estimate, he came into the season with the second best team in the Premiership. They’ve struggled ... [Continued at SRSoccer.com. Comments?]

‘New’ Transfer Dealings Mess: The transfer window closed a week ago. I’ve waited until now to soak this mess in and see how I actually feel about this so-called ‘new way of doing business’. I think my initial reaction was right. When I first started watching European football–especially the Premier League–I embraced ... [Continued at SRSoccer.com. Comments?]

Sunderland Comedy Keeps Things Light: I have to admit, it’s not been a great start of the season for me. Practically every result has been going the wrong way. So my thanks go out to Sunderland. They’ve managed to keep a smile on my face through this rough patch of matches. The only ... [Continued at SRSoccer.com. Comments?]

Back Amongst the Living: I’ve finally crawled from the deathbed and am easing myself back away from the light. I thought my pain wracked state was brought on by mighty Ipswich Town’s dismal start to the season (nary a point in 3 stabs). The medicos say that had nothing to do with ... [Continued at SRSoccer.com. Comments?]

Pretty Lousy for a Friday: I had to look at the calendar to make sure it wasn’t the 13th. Nothing is going right today in my world or the football world. Darren Bent, who was much more intelligent while playing for Ipswich, apparently came close to cutting his arm off trying to make ... [Continued at SRSoccer.com. Comments?]

It’s Italy: Italy somehow overcame history and beat France in penalty kicks to win the 2006 World Cup. 1-1 (5-3). David Trezeguet helped by being the only one to miss. He’s another one of those much lauded players I’ve never seen do anything of note. France dug ... [Continued at SRSoccer.com. Comments?]

Group Pairings and Teams

Group A

Germany
Costa Rica
Poland
Ecuador

Group B

England
Paraguay
Trinidad and Tobago
Sweden

Group C

Argentina
Cote d’Ivoire
Serbia and Montenegro
Netherlands

Group D

Mexico
Iran
Angola
Portugal

Group E

Italy
Ghana
USA
Czech Republic

Group F

Brazil
Croatia
Australia
Japan

Group G

France
Switzerland
Korea Republic
Togo

Group H

Spain
Ukraine
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia

Past FIFA World Cup Winners