Listed below are the dates and results for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for South America. 10 teams took part, all in a single group. The rules were very simple: the teams would play against each other in a home-and-away basis, the four teams with most points qualifying to the [2006 FIFA World Cup|World Cup]]. The fifth ranked team would have to play-off against the best team from Oceania, winner of this play-off also qualifying.
Tiebreakers
Final standings
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:BRAf | 34 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 35 | 17 | 18 |
| Template:ARGf | 34 | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 29 | 17 | 12 |
| Template:ECUf | 28 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 19 | 4 |
| Template:PARf | 28 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 23 | 0 |
| Template:URUf | 25 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 23 | 28 | -5 |
| Template:COLf | 24 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 24 | 16 | 8 |
| Template:CHIf | 22 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 18 | 22 | -4 |
| Template:VENf | 18 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 20 | 28 | -8 |
| Template:PERf | 18 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 28 | -8 |
| Template:BOLf | 14 | 18 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 20 | 37 | -17 |
Round 1
September 6, 2003, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Template:ARGf 2 - 2 Template:CHIf
September 6, 2003, Quito, Ecuador - Template:ECUf 2 - 0 Template:VENf
September 6, 2003, Lima, Peru - Template:PERf 4 - 1 Template:PARf
September 7, 2003, Montevideo, Uruguay - Template:URUf 5 - 0 Template:BOLf
September 7, 2003, Barranquilla, Colombia - Template:COLf 1 - 2 Template:BRAf
Round 2
September 9, 2003, Caracas, Venezuela - Template:VENf 0 - 3 Template:ARGf
September 9, 2003, Santiago, Chile - Template:CHIf 2 - 1 Template:PERf
September 10, 2003, La Paz, Bolivia - Template:BOLf 4 - 0 Template:COLf
September 10, 2003, Asunción, Paraguay - Template:PARf 4 - 1 Template:URUf
September 10, 2003, Manaus, Brazil - Template:BRAf 1 - 0 Template:ECUf
Round 3
November 15, 2003, Asunción, Paraguay - Template:PARf 2 - 1 Template:ECUf
November 15, 2003, Montevideo, Uruguay - Template:URUf 2 - 1 Template:CHIf
November 15, 2003, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Template:ARGf 3 - 0 Template:BOLf
November 15, 2003, Barranquilla, Colombia - Template:COLf 0 - 1 Template:VENf
November 16, 2003, Lima, Peru - Template:PERf 1 - 1 Template:BRAf
Round 4
November 18, 2003, Maracaibo, Venezuela - Template:VENf 2 - 1 Template:BOLf
November 18, 2003, Santiago, Chile - Template:CHIf 0 - 1 Template:PARf
November 19, 2003, Curitiba, Brazil - Template:BRAf 3 - 3 Template:URUf
November 19, 2003, Quito, Ecuador - Template:ECUf 0 - 0 Template:PERf
November 19, 2003, Barranquilla, Colombia - Template:COLf 1 - 1 Template:ARGf
Round 5
March 30, 2004, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Template:ARGf 1 - 0 Template:ECUf
March 30, 2004, La Paz, Bolivia - Template:BOLf 0 - 2 Template:CHIf
March 31, 2004, Lima, Peru - Template:PERf 0 - 2 Template:COLf
March 31, 2004, Asunción, Paraguay - Template:PARf 0 - 0 Template:BRAf
March 31, 2004, Montevideo, Uruguay - Template:URUf 0 - 3 Template:VENf
Round 6
June 1, 2004, Montevideo, Uruguay - Template:URUf 1 - 3 Template:PERf
June 1, 2004, San Cristóbal, Venezuela - Template:VENf 0 - 1 Template:CHIf
June 1, 2004, La Paz, Bolivia - Template:BOLf 2 - 1 Template:PARf
June 2, 2004, Belo Horizonte, Brazil - Template:BRAf 3 - 1 Template:ARGf
June 2, 2004, Quito, Ecuador - Template:ECUf 2 - 1 Template:COLf
Rounds 7-12
June 5, 2004, Quito, Ecuador - Template:ECUf 3 - 2 Template:BOLf
June 6, 2004, Santiago, Chile - Template:CHIf 1 - 1 Template:BRAf
June 6, 2004, Barranquilla, Colombia - Template:COLf 5 - 0 Template:URUf
June 6, 2004, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Template:ARGf 0 - 0 Template:PARf
June 6, 2004, Lima, Peru - Template:PERf 0 - 0 Template:VENf
September 4, 2004, Lima, Peru - Template:PERf 1 - 3 Template:ARGf
September 5, 2004, Santiago, Chile - Template:CHIf 0 - 0 Template:COLf
September 5, 2004, Asunción, Paraguay - Template:PARf 1 - 0 Template:VENf
September 5, 2004, São Paulo, Brazil - Template:BRAf 3 - 1 Template:BOLf
September 5, 2004, Montevideo, Uruguay - Template:URUf 1 - 0 Template:ECUf
October 9, 2004, Maracaibo, Venezuela - Template:VENf 2 - 5 Template:BRAf
October 9, 2004, Barranquilla, Colombia - Template:COLf 1 - 1 Template:PARf
October 9, 2004, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Template:ARGf 4 - 2 Template:URUf
October 9, 2004, La Paz, Bolivia - Template:BOLf 1 - 0 Template:PERf
October 10, 2004, Quito, Ecuador - Template:ECUf 2 - 0 Template:CHIf
October 12, 2004, La Paz, Bolivia - Template:BOLf 0 - 0 Template:URUf
October 13, 2004, Maceió, Brazil - Template:BRAf 0 - 0 Template:COLf
October 13, 2004, Asunción, Paraguay - Template:PARf 1 - 1 Template:PERf
October 13, 2004, Santiago, Chile - Template:CHIf 0 - 0 Template:ARGf
October 14, 2004, San Cristóbal, Venezuela - Template:VENf 3 - 1 Template:ECUf
November 17, 2004, Montevideo, Uruguay - Template:URUf 1 - 0 Template:PARf
November 17, 2004, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Template:ARGf 3 - 2 Template:VENf
November 17, 2004, Barranquilla, Colombia - Template:COLf 1 - 0 Template:BOLf
November 17, 2004, Quito, Ecuador - Template:ECUf 1 - 0 Template:BRAf
November 17, 2004, Lima, Peru - Template:PERf 2 - 1 Template:CHIf
March 26, 2005, Santiago, Chile - Template:CHIf 1 - 1 Template:URUf
March 26, 2005, La Paz, Bolivia - Template:BOLf 1 - 2 Template:ARGf
March 26, 2005, Maracaibo, Venezuela - Template:VENf 0 - 0 Template:COLf
March 27, 2005, Quito, Ecuador - Template:ECUf 5 - 2 Template:PARf
March 27, 2005, Goiânia, Brazil - Template:BRAf 1 - 0 Template:PERf
Rounds 13-18
March 29, 2005, La Paz, Bolivia - Template:BOLf 3 - 1 Template:VENf
March 30, 2005, Montevideo, Uruguay - Template:URUf 1 - 1 Template:BRAf
March 30, 2005, Lima, Peru - Template:PERf 2 - 2 Template:ECUf
March 30, 2005, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Template:ARGf 1 - 0 Template:COLf
March 30, 2005, Asunción, Paraguay - Template:PARf 2 - 1 Template:CHIf
June 4, 2005, Barranquilla, Colombia - Template:COLf 5 - 0 Template:PERf
June 4, 2005, Quito, Ecuador - Template:ECUf 2 - 0 Template:ARGf
June 4, 2005, Maracaibo, Venezuela - Template:VENf 1 - 1 Template:URUf
June 4, 2005, Santiago, Chile - Template:CHIf 3 - 1 Template:BOLf
June 5, 2005, Porto Alegre, Brazil - Template:BRAf 4 - 1 Template:PARf
June 7, 2005, Lima, Peru - Template:PERf 0 - 0 Template:URUf
June 8, 2005, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Template:ARGf 3 - 1 Template:BRAf
June 8, 2005, Santiago, Chile - Template:CHIf 2 - 1 Template:VENf
June 8, 2005, Barranquilla, Colombia - Template:COLf 3 - 0 Template:ECUf
June 8, 2005, Asunción, Paraguay - Template:PARf 4 - 1 Template:BOLf
September 3, 2005, Maracaibo, Venezuela - Template:VENf 4 - 1 Template:PERf
September 3, 2005, La Paz, Bolivia - Template:BOLf 1 - 2 Template:ECUf
September 3, 2005, Asunción, Paraguay - Template:PARf 1 - 0 Template:ARGf
September 4, 2005, Brasília, Brazil - Template:BRAf 5 - 0 Template:CHIf
September 4, 2005, Montevideo, Uruguay - Template:URUf 3 - 2 Template:COLf
October 8, 2005, Maracaibo, Venezuela - Template:VENf 0 - 1 Template:PARf
October 8, 2005, Quito, Ecuador - Template:ECUf 0 - 0 Template:URUf
October 8, 2005, Barranquilla, Colombia - Template:COLf 1 - 1 Template:CHIf
October 9, 2005, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Template:ARGf 2 - 0 Template:PERf
October 9, 2005, La Paz, Bolivia - Template:BOLf 1 - 1 Template:BRAf
October 12, 2005, Belém, Brazil - Template:BRAf 3 - 0 Template:VENf
October 12, 2005, Montevideo, Uruguay - Template:URUf 1 - 0 Template:ARGf
October 12, 2005, Asunción, Paraguay - Template:PARf 0 - 1 Template:COLf
October 12, 2005, Tacna, Peru - Template:PERf 4 - 1 Template:BOLf
October 12, 2005, Santiago, Chile - Template:CHIf 0 - 0 Template:ECUf
Comments
As in the 2002 Qualifications, the last match for Argentina was against Uruguay, and on both occasions Uruguay needed a favourable result to reach the 5th place and to then playoff for a place in the World Cup.
In 2002 the match finished tied at 1-1, allowing Uruguay to clinch the 5th place. This received criticism from the media across South America, as Argentina, which had already qualified, played in an extremely relaxed fashion, some saying consciously favouring their friendly neighbour.
Mistrust arose again in 2005 when Uruguay needed a victory to avoid depending on the results of Colombia versus Chile. Even though Colombia won its match against Paraguay in Paraguay, Uruguay also won the match against Argentina, again reaching the position to playoff for the last place at Germany. Both Argentina and Paraguay had already qualified.
Unlike the outcome in 2002, Uruguay did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup, since it lost the playoff against Australia.