2002 FIFA World Cup | Records, Venues, Winners and Groups

The FIFA World Cup 2002 was held in South Korea and Japan between 31st May to 30th June 2002. It was the 17th FIFA World Cup, which was being hosted by Asian countries for the first time.

It was also the first time that the tournament was being hosted by two countries and was the last international footballing event to have the golden goal rule.

Brazil was the 2002 World Cup Winner, winning the tournament for the fifth time in history and setting a new record of being the first country to win five World Cups. The tournament came with its own upsets as France was forced out in the group stages and Argentina also couldn’t manage to advance into the knockouts.

Underdogs like Turkey advanced into the knockouts and South Korea managed to reach into the semi finals.

Qualification Details

The number of teams participating totaled to 199 out of which defending champions France and hosts South Korea and Japan qualified automatically.

Out of 32 teams, fifteen were from UEFA, three were from CONCACAF and five teams were from CONMEBOL. Four countries each qualified from the African and the Asian regions.

Venues

NameCityCapacityDaegu World Cup StadiumDaegu68,014Seoul World Cup StadiumSeoul63,961Busan Asiad StadiumBusan55,982Incheon Munhak StadiumIncheon52,179Ulsan Munsu Football StadiumUlsan43,550Suwon World Cup StadiumSuwon43,188Gwangju World Cup StadiumGwangju42,880Jeonju World Cup StadiumJeonju42,391Jeju World Cup StadiumSeogwipo42,256Daejeon World Cup StadiumDaejeon40,470International StadiumYokohama72,327Saitama Stadium 2002Saitama63,000Shizuoka “Ecopa” StadiumShizuoka50,600Nagai StadiumOsaka50,000Miyagi StadiumMiyagi49,000Ōita StadiumŌita43,000Niigata StadiumNiigata42,300Kashima Soccer StadiumKashima42,000Kobe Wing StadiumKobe42,000Sapporo Dome

Sapporo

42000

2002 World Cup Groups

Group A

TeamPlayedWonDrawLostGFGAPointsDenmark3210527Senegal3120545Uruguay3021452France3012031

Group B

TeamPlayedWonDrawLostGFGAPointsSpain3300949Paraguay3111664South Africa3111554Slovenia3003270

Group C

TeamPlayedWonDrawLostGFGAPointsBrazil33001139Turkey3111534Costa Rica3111564China PR3003090

Group D

TeamPlayedWonDrawLostGFGAPointsSouth Korea3210417United States3111564Portugal3102643Poland3102373

Group E

TeamPlayedWonDrawLostGFGAPointsItaly3210517Ghana3201436Czech Republic3102343United States3012261

Group F

TeamPlayedWonDrawLostGFGAPointsGermany 32101117Republic Of Ireland3120525Cameroon3111234Saudi Arabia30030120

Group G

TeamPlayedWonDrawLostGFGAPointsSweden3120435England3120215Argentina3111224Nigeria3012131

Group H

TeamPlayedWonDrawLostGFGAPointsMexico3210427Italy3111434Croatia3102203Ecuador3102243

Semi Finals

Just like in the quarter-finals, Michael Ballack scored yet again to help Germany win against South Korea in the semis. On the other hand, Ronaldo scored his fifth goal of the tournament to help Brazil advance to the finals.

Third Place

South Korea and Turkey went head to head for the third place. However, Turkey defeated hosts Korea 3-2.

Final

The final match was played at the International Stadium in Yokohama, Japan. The stage was set for Brazil and Germany to clash for the World Champion spot. Brazilian player Ronaldo was in phenomenal form and scored two goals in the second half to comfortably win 2-0, taking Brazil world cup wins to five, the most by any nation.

Awards

Brazilian striker Ronaldo was by far the top scoring player in the tournament and was awarded the Golden Boot for his eight goals. The Yashin Award and Golden ball award was taken by German keeper Oliver Kahn. It should also be noted that he was the only goalkeeper in football history who was honored by Golden Ball, which is a award given to the best player in the tournament.

Landon Donovan of United States was honored by the Best Young Player Award, while the Belgium football team were awarded the FIFA Fair Play Trophy. Award for the Most Entertaining Team went to South Korea for their outstanding performance as an underdog team in the tournament.

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