2002 FIFA World Cup qualification failed to qualify for the 2006 finals: Belgium, Cameroon, China, Denmark, Ireland, Nigeria, Russia, Senegal, Slovenia, South Africa, Turkey, Uruguay." The 32 spots available in the 2002 World Cup would be distributed among the continental zones as follows: A total of 193 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 777 qualifying matches were played, and 2452 goals were scored (an average of 3.17 per match). The Asian Football Confederation was allocated four and half qualifying berths for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, South Korea and Japan, the co-hosts, qualified automatically, leaving two and half spots open for
2002 FIFA World Cup squads Cameroon squad were made up entirely of players employed by overseas clubs, the Irish squad was made up entirely by players in the English league. Although Netherlands and Greece failed to qualify for the finals, their domestic leagues were represented by 18 and 10 players respectively. Altogether, there were 43 national leagues who had players in the tournament. 2002 FIFA World Cup squads At the 2002 FIFA World Cup, each national association was required to name a squad of 23 players, expanded from 22 in previous tournaments. The players' ages, caps and clubs are as of 31 May 2002, the