Listed below are the dates and results for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for UEFA teams.
The European section of the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which was held in South Korea and Japan, for national teams which are members of the UEFA. Apart from France, who qualified automatically as defending champions, a total of 13.5 slots in the final tournament were available for UEFA teams.
The 50 teams were divided into nine groups, five groups of six teams and four groups of five teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify. Among the runners-up, Group 2 was drawn randomly to advance to the UEFA–AFC Intercontinental play-off while the remaining eight runners-up would advance to the UEFA play-offs.[1]
In the play-offs, the eight teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The four aggregate winners qualified. The qualifying process started on 2 September 2000, after UEFA Euro 2000, and ended on 14 November 2001.
Table - top row: group winners, second row: group runners-up, third row: others. The winner of each group qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup together with winners of play-off. Group 2 was the last team drawn for its runner-up to participate in the UEFA/AFC intercontinental play-off. As runner-up in group 2, Republic of Ireland played a play-off against a team from the AFC confederation, whereas the others played against each other (UEFA play-off).
The draw for the play-offs was held on 31 August 2001 at FIFA's headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland.[1] The nine group runners-up were placed into one pot, with eight teams drawn into four pairings (with the first team drawn hosting the first leg). The remaining team then faced an AFC team in the inter-confederation play-offs.[3] UEFA were paired to face the AFC team by decision of the FIFA Executive Committee in October 1999.[4]
As the Group 2 runner-up was the last team to be selected in the play-off draw on 31 August 2001, that team then faced an AFC team in the inter-confederation play-offs.[3] UEFA were paired to face the AFC team by decision of the FIFA Executive Committee in October 1999,[4] though the order of legs was decided by the draw on 31 August 2001. The team to meet an AFC team became the Republic of Ireland.[5]
^ ab"Play-offs UEFA/AFC". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original on 3 January 2002. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
^ ab"Play-off draw to take place". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. August 2001. Archived from the original on 2 September 2001. Retrieved 6 December 2019.