2002 FIFA World Cup

The 2002 FIFA World Cup, the 17th staging of the World Cup, was held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. The two countries were chosen as hosts by FIFA in May 1996 and was the first tournament in its history to be hosted by two countries. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0 in the final.
The 2002 FIFA World Cup was also well known for being the center of a controversy regarding the flag of Saudi Arabia, which bears the Islamic declaration of faith, similar to another incident at the 1994 World Cup. FIFA issued a football decorated with the flags of all the participating nations, including that of Saudi Arabia. This was vehemently protested against by Saudi officials, who said that kicking the creed with the foot was completely unacceptable.

Qualification
A total of 199 teams attempted to qualify for the 2002 World Cup which qualification process began with the preliminary draw in 1999. Defending World Champions France and co-hosts Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Japan automatically qualified and did not have to play any qualification matches. (This was the last time that the defending champions automatically qualified).
Thirteen places were contested by UEFA teams (Europe), five by CAF teams (Africa), four by CONMEBOL teams (South America), four by AFC teams (Asia), and three by CONCACAF teams (North and Central America and Caribbean). The remaining two places were decided by playoffs between AFC and UEFA and between CONMEBOL and OFC (Oceania). Four nations qualified for the finals for the first time: China, Ecuador, Senegal, and Slovenia.
All seven previous World Cup-winning nations (Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy and Uruguay) qualified, the first time so many previous champions had been present at a finals tournament.