2002 FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup 2002 was the 17th FIFA World Cup, organized by FIFA, the men's national football association teams 'quadrennial world championship. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at locations in South Korea and Japan, with Japan hosting the final match at Yokohama International Stadion. For this World Cup, which was the first to be held in Asia, the first to be held outside the Americas or Europe, a field of 32 teams participated and the first to be hosted jointly by more than one nation. Ukraine, Cameroon, Senegal and Slovenia made world cup debuts. The tournament saw some upsets and surprising outcomes, including eliminating the defending champions of France in the group stage after winning a single point and also dropping the second favorites of Argentina in the group stage. South Korea managed to make the semi-finals, beating Spain, Italy and Portugal on the way, becoming the first country to reach the last four World Cups from outside Europe and the Americas. Yet the most dominant team of the competition, Brazil, has won, winning the final against Germany 2–0, rendering them the first and only country to lift the World Cup five times. The victory qualified Brazil in one row for the Confederations Cups of 2003 and later 2005, with its fourth and fifth appearance in the Confederations Cup. Turkey won 3–2 in the third-play-off match against South Korea, coming third in just its second ever FIFA World Cup and scoring the fastest goal in FIFA World Cup history. The 2002 World Cup has also been the last to take advantage of the law of golden goals. South Korea and Japan both received 10 venues, most of which were newly built for the tournament. Groups A – D played all their matches in South Korea, while group E – H played all their matches in Japan. The Stadiums Daegu, Suwon, Yokohama, and Saitama all played four matches each, while the other 16 stadiums played three matches each. Notably, there were no matches played in Osaka, making it the city of the second host nation not to have a World Cup venue. The semi-finals saw two 1–0 games; Michael Ballack, the first semi-final, played in Seoul, had a respectable goal enough for Germany to defeat South Korea. However, Ballack had already received a yellow card during the previous match which caused him to miss the final based on accumulated yellow cards. Ronaldo scored a goal in Saitama early in the second half of the next day, scoring his sixth of the competition for Brazil, which beat Turkey in a replay of their Group C meeting. Two goals by Ronaldo sealed the World Cup for Brazil when they claimed victory over Germany in the final match played in Yokohama, Japan. Ronaldo scored twice in the second half and after the game won the Golden Shoe Trophy for the tournament's highest scorer, with eight goals. It was the fifth World Cup win for Brazil, cementing its status as the most successful national team in the history of the tournament. Brazil became the first team to lift the trophy since Argentina in 1986, without having to face a penalty shoot-out at any point during the knock-out phase and the total number of penalty shoot-outs was the lowest since the four-round knockout system was introduced in 1986. Brazil also became the first team to win every game in the World Cup Finals since 1970 and set a new record for a World Cup winner with the highest overall difference in goal. Brazil's captain Cafu, who became the first player to appear in three successive World Cup finals, has won the award on behalf of the country.