Regional qualifying for the remaining 29 places is already underway and is scheduled to be completed in November 2001. After the completion of regional qualifying, the Final Draw to determine the groupings for the final tournament is scheduled to be held in the city of Busan, Korea on December 1, 2001. The format is the same as for World Cup France '98. The 32 teams will be drawn into eight groups of four for the first round, and will play a round-robin against other teams in its group. The top two teams from each group advance to the second round knockout stage, culminating with the final on June 30 in Yokohama.
Plans are to open an additional six shops over the coming months in the other host venue sites.
The success of the World Cup depends largely on the efforts of thousands of enthusiastic volunteers.