Home »

30.9.03 - The long, winding road to the FIFA World Cup Finals of Germany 2006 will begin for the 34 CONCACAF entries in a little less than four months time, based on the final format proposal submitted to FIFA.

The first games will be played on the weekend of 17-18 January 2004, with the last ones scheduled for 12 and 16 November 2005; almost two years of intense competition to see who will represent the Confederation in Germany.

The dates used for the extensive qualifying schedule include those set aside in the FIFA International Calendar as well as dates reserved for Confederation and FIFA competitions.

All CONCACAF countries will enter the qualifying competition at the same, first, stage, instead of the more successful teams from previous events being "seeded" into later rounds.

The 34 teams will be divided into ten groups of three and two groups of two, to play home and away to produce 12 qualifiers, the group winners, for the second, semi-final stage. The first stage will be completed by the weekend of 19-20 June in order for the semi-final round to begin on 18 August and end on 17 November 2004.

At the semi-final stage, the twelve qualifiers will be divided into three groups of four, with the top two from each group moving on to the final qualifying stage. The final group of six qualifiers will play, home and away, from 9 February 2005 until 12 October 2005 at which point the three certain CONCACAF qualifiers will be known.

The fourth place team will then face a play-off in mid-November 2005 for a chance to make it four CONCACAF World Cup Finalists for the first time in history.

2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Dates for CONCACAF

2004

Saturday/Sunday, 17-18 January, Preliminary Round ? Date 1

Wednesday, 21 January, Preliminary Round ? Date 2

Wednesday, 18 February, Preliminary Round ? Date 3

Wednesday, 31 March, Preliminary Round ? Date 4

Saturday/Sunday, 12-13 June, Preliminary Round ? Date 5

Saturday/Sunday, 19-20 June, Preliminary Round ? Date 6

Wednesday, 18 August, Semi-Final Round ? Game 1

Saturday/Sunday, 4-5 September, Semi-Final Round ? Game 2

Wednesday, 8 September, Semi-Final Round ? Game 3

Saturday/Sunday, 9-10 October, Semi-Final Round ? Game 4

Wednesday, 13 October, Semi-Final Round ? Game 5

Wednesday, 17 November, Semi-Final Round ? Game 6

2005

Wednesday, 9 February, Final Round ? Game 1

Saturday/Sunday, 26-27 March, Final Round ? Game 2

Wednesday, 30 March, Final Round ? Game 3

Saturday/Sunday, 4-5 June, Final Round ? Game 4

Wednesday, 8 June, Final Round ? Game 5

Wednesday, 17 August, Final Round ? Game 6

Saturday/Sunday, 3-4 September, Final Round ? Game 7

Wednesday, 7 September, Final Round ? Game 8

Saturday/Sunday, 8-9 October, Final Round ? Game 9

Wednesday, 12 October, Final Round ? Game 10

Saturday, 12 November, Fourth-Place Team Playoff ? First-leg

Wednesday, 16 November, Fourth-Place Team Playoff ? Second-leg

Source: www.concacaf.com