A record 195 teams played in the qualifying rounds. Of these, 32 will play in the finals. Hosts Japan and South Korea and holders France are automatically included.Those who made it are coloured red
Oceania: only 1 or 0 teams qualify
Group One: Australia, Tonga, Samoa, American Samoa & Fiji
Group Two: New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu, Cook Islands
Winners of the groups play off. Winner plays 5th team in South America.
Group Two (all played in New Zealand)
| June 4 | Vanuatu | 1 | Tahiti | 6 |
| Solomon Is | 9 | Cook Is | 1 | |
| June 6 | Tahiti | 0 | New Zealand | 5 |
| Cook Is | 1 | Vanuatu | 8 | |
| June 8 | Vanuatu | 2 | Solomon Is | 7 |
| New Zealand | 2 | Cook Is | 0 | |
| June 11 | Solomon Is | 1 | New Zealand | 5 |
| Cook Is | 0 | Tahiti | 6 | |
| June 13 | New Zealand | 7 | Vanuatu | 0 |
| Tahiti | 2 | Solomon Is | 0 |
| June 20 | New Zealand | 0 | Australia | 2 |
| June 24 | Australia | 4 | New Zealand | 1 |
Australia played 5th placed South American team Uruguay, winning 1 - 0 at home, but losing 3 - 0 away.
South America: 4 or 5 teams qualify
Argentine, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela
Round robin (two legs). Top 4 qualify, 5th teamUruguay played Oceania winner Australia.
Asia: 4 or 5 teams qualify (including Japan and South Korea)
Group 1: Oman, Syria, Laos, Philippines. Group 2: Iran, Tajikstan, Myanmar, Guam.
Group 3: Qatar, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Palestine. Group 4: Kuwait, Singapore, Bahrain, Kyrgystan.
Group 5: Thailand, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Pakistan. Group 6: Iraq, Kazakhstan, Napal, Macau.
Group 7: Uzbekistan, Jordan, Turkmenistan, Taiwan. Group 8: United Arab Emirates, India, Yemen, Brunei.
Group 9: China, Indonesia, Maldives, Cambodia. Group 10: Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Mongolia
Group winners play in two second round groups. Winners qualify. Winner of runners-up plays a European team.
Concacaf: 3 teams qualify
Group A: El Salvador, Belize, Guatemala. Group B: Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama.
Group 1: Cuba, Cayman Islands, St Lucia, Surinam, Aruba, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Grenada.
Group 2: St Vincent & Grenada, US Virgin Islands, St Kitts & Nevis, Turks & Caicos Is, Guyana, Antigua & Barbuda, Brit Virgin Is, Burmuda.
Group 3: Trinidad & Tobago, Netherlands Antilles, Dominican Republic, Montserrat, Dominica, Haiti, Anguilla, Bahamas.
Winning teams from above groups go into play-offs with Mexico, Jamaica, U.S.A. and Costa Rica in a complicated system!
Africa: 5 teams qualify
Group A: Cape Verde Islands, Algeria, Mauritania, Tunisia, Benin, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Togo, Gambia.
Group B: Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Madagascar, Gabon, Sudan, Mozambique.
Group C: Equatorial Guinea, Congo, Libya, Mali, Rwanda, Cote d'Ivoire, Sao Tome e Principe, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Zimbabwe.
Group D: Seychelles, Namibia, Djibouti, Congo DR, Somalia, Cameroun, Mauritius, Egypt, Eritrea, Nigeria.
Group E: Chad, Liberia, Uganda, Guinea, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana.
Group winners qualify.
Europe: 14 or 15 teams qualify.
Group 1:Yugoslavia, Russia, Switzerland, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Faroe Islands.
Group 2: Netherlands, Portugal, Repub Ireland, Cyprus, Andorra, Estonia.
Group 3: Czech Repub, Denmark, Bulgaria, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Malta.
Group 4: Sweden, Turkey, Slovakia, FYR Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Moldova.
Group 5: Norway, Ukraine, Poland, Wales, Armenia, Belarus.
Group 6: Belgium, Scotland, Croatia, Latvia, San Marino.
Group 7: Spain, Austria, Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lichtenstein.
Group 8: Romania, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Georgia.
Group 9: Germany, England, Greece, Finland, Albania.
Group winners qualify. Runners-up play off with Asian team for 5 places.
Back to 2002 World Cup Draw and results