The knockout stage was the second and final stage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, following the group stage. The top two teams from each group (16 in total) advance to the knockout stage to compete in a single-elimination style tournament. A match was played between the two losing teams of the semi-finals to determine which team finished in third place.
All times local (CEST/UTC+2)
The top two placed teams from each of the eight groups qualified for the knockout stage.
| Group | Winners | Runners-up |
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| A |  Germany
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 Ecuador
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| B |  England
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 Sweden
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| C |  Argentina
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 Netherlands
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| D |  Portugal
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 Mexico
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| E |  Italy
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 Ghana
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| F |  Brazil
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 Australia
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| G |  Switzerland
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 France
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| H |  Spain
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 Ukraine
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| Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||
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| 24 June – Munich | |||||||||||||
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| Germany | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 30 June – Berlin | |||||||||||||
| Sweden | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Germany (p) | 1 (4) | ||||||||||||
| 24 June – Leipzig | |||||||||||||
| Argentina | 1 (2) | ||||||||||||
| Argentina (a.e.t.) | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 4 July – Dortmund | |||||||||||||
| Mexico | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Germany | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 26 June – Kaiserslautern | |||||||||||||
| Italy (a.e.t.) | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Italy | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 30 June – Hamburg | |||||||||||||
| Australia | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Italy | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 26 June – Cologne | |||||||||||||
| Ukraine | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Switzerland | 0 (0) | ||||||||||||
| 9 July – Berlin | |||||||||||||
| Ukraine (p) | 0 (3) | ||||||||||||
| Italy (p) | 1 (5) | ||||||||||||
| 25 June – Stuttgart | |||||||||||||
| France | 1 (3) | ||||||||||||
| England | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 1 July – Gelsenkirchen | |||||||||||||
| Ecuador | 0 | ||||||||||||
| England | 0 (1) | ||||||||||||
| 25 June – Nuremberg | |||||||||||||
| Portugal (p) | 0 (3) | ||||||||||||
| Portugal | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 5 July – Munich | |||||||||||||
| Netherlands | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Portugal | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 27 June – Dortmund | |||||||||||||
| France | 1 | Third place play-off | |||||||||||
| Brazil | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 1 July – Frankfurt | 8 July – Stuttgart | ||||||||||||
| Ghana | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Brazil | 0 | Germany | 3 | ||||||||||
| 27 June – Hanover | |||||||||||||
| France | 1 | Portugal | 1 | ||||||||||
| Spain | 1 | ||||||||||||
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| France | 3 | ||||||||||||
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Germany progressed thanks to two goals from Lukas Podolski inside the opening 12 minutes. His first was in the fourth minute; German captain Michael Ballack sent a pass to Miroslav Klose, who was tackled by goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson, only for an onrushing Podolski to turn the ball in.[1] Eight minutes later, a pass from Klose found Podolski, who scored his second goal.[1] On 35 minutes, Teddy Lučić received a second yellow card for a foul on Klose.[1] In the 52nd minute, Henrik Larsson won a penalty for Sweden when he was challenged by Christoph Metzelder, only for Larsson himself to shoot the ball over the crossbar.[2] Germany held out for a 2–0 win.
| Germany | 2–0 | Sweden |
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Report |
Attendance: 66,000
Referee: Carlos Eugênio Simon (Brazil)
Germany |
Sweden |
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Man of the Match:
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| Argentina | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Mexico |
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 98' |
Report |
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Attendance: 43,000
Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)
Argentina |
Mexico |
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| England | 1–0 | Ecuador |
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Report |
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
England |
Ecuador |
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Man of the Match:
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| Portugal | 1–0 | Netherlands |
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Report |
Attendance: 41,000
Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)
Portugal |
Netherlands |
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| Italy | 1–0 | Australia |
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| Report |
Attendance: 46,000
Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)
Italy |
Australia |
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Man of the Match:
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Despite their early elimination, Switzerland became the first team in the history of the FIFA World Cup to leave an edition of the tournament without conceding a single goal.[3]
| Switzerland | 0–0 (a.e.t.) | Ukraine |
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| Report | ||
| Penalties | ||
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0–3 |
 Milevskyi Rebrov Husyev |
Attendance: 45,000
Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)
Switzerland |
Ukraine |
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Man of the Match:
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| Brazil | 3–0 | Ghana |
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45+1' 84' |
Report |
Attendance: 65,000
Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)
Brazil |
Ghana |
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| Spain | 1–3 | France |
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| Report |
83' 90+2' |
Attendance: 43,000
Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)
Spain |
France |
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Argentina took the lead through Roberto Ayala early in the second half, but the South Americans’ goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri was injured after the goal and his replacement Leo Franco was unable to stop Miroslav Klose from equalizing with ten minutes left in regulation time. The match went to extra time. With no goals scored, the semifinal spot came down to penalties, during which German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was seen looking at a piece of paper kept in his sock before each Argentinian player would come forward for a penalty kick. Lehmann had researched the penalty taking habits of seven players on the Argentinian team. However, only two players on his list ended up taking a penalty that day. On the attempts by those two players, Lehmann saved one and came close to saving the other.[4] He then had to guess on Esteban Cambiasso's kick since he did not have any information written on his list about Cambiasso. However, he derived an educated guess from the videos he had studied and pretended to read the piece of paper and nodded his head before putting it away, implying to Cambiasso that he did in fact have information on the kicker. Lehmann guessed correctly and saved the penalty, thus winning the shootout for Germany.[5] "Lehmann's list" became so popular in the annals of German football history that it is now in the Haus der Geschichte museum.
| Germany | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | Argentina |
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Report |
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| Penalties | ||
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4–2 |
Ayala Rodríguez Cambiasso |
Attendance: 72,000
Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)
Germany |
Argentina |
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| Italy | 3–0 | Ukraine |
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59', 69' |
Report |
Attendance: 50,000
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
Italy |
Ukraine |
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| England | 0–0 (a.e.t.) | Portugal |
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| Report | ||
| Penalties | ||
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1–3 |
Viana Petit Postiga Ronaldo |
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)
England |
Portugal |
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| External videos | |
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 Brazil v France (Germany 2006) Full matchonYouTube |
Defending world champions Brazil went out in the quarter-finals after Zinedine Zidane found an unmarked Thierry Henry from a free kick, the striker having been given a free run at the ball after his marker, Roberto Carlos, stopped to tie his shoe.[6]
| Brazil | 0–1 | France |
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| Report |
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Attendance: 48,000
Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)
Brazil |
France |
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This was the fourth time that Italy defeated the host nation of tournament, after Francein1938, Mexicoin1970 and Argentinain1978.
| Germany | 0–2 (a.e.t.) | Italy |
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| Report |
120+1' |
Attendance: 65,000
Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)
Germany |
Italy |
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| Portugal | 0–1 | France |
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Attendance: 66,000
Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)
Portugal |
France |
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This was the third time that Portugal lost to the host nation of tournament, after Englandin1966 and South Koreain2002.
| Germany | 3–1 | Portugal |
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61' (o.g.) |
Report |
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Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)
Germany |
Portugal |
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| Italy | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | France |
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Report | |
| Penalties | ||
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5–3 |
Trezeguet Abidal Sagnol |
Attendance: 69,000
Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)
Italy |
France |
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