2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) Listed below are the dates and results for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for UEFA teams. The European section of the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which is being held in South Korea and Japan, for national teams which are members of the UEFA. Apart from France, who qualified automatically as defending champions, a total of 13.5 slots in the final tournament were available for UEFA teams. The 50 teams were divided into nine groups, five groups of six teams and four groups
FIFA World Cup in 2014. Nevertheless, European and South American teams continue to dominate, e.g., the quarter-finalists in 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2018 were all from Europe or South America and so were the finalists of all tournaments so far. Two hundred teams entered the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds; 198 nations attempted to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, while a record 204 countries entered qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In October 2013, Sepp Blatter spoke of guaranteeing the Caribbean Football Union's region a position in the World Cup. In the edition of 25 October 2013 of the