32 national teams has qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2006 to compete over a month in host nation, Germany. These teams will narrow the tournament in two stages, group stage and knockout stage. In the first stage the teams are drawn into eight groups of four. Each team will play at least three matches. 3 points will be awarded for a win and 1 for draw. The two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage.

The knockout stage is a single-elimination round. The winner of each group will play against the runner-up from another group. Extra time and penalty shootouts will be used to decide the winner. The stage will lead to quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final respectively. The loosing semi-finalists contest for a third place in a separate match.