Grand Prix de Fútbol 2001

Grand Prix de Fútbol 2001 was the 21st edition of Grand Prix de Fútbol, the annual competition contested between men's senior national football teams. The competition, unlike regular competitions which are hosted by either one nation or co-hosted, this tournament was held worldwide, across thirty-two stadiums, in the same number of cities. All thirty-two hosts earned the right to qualify, and no qualifications were made in preparation, as a majority of qualifying rounds were played for the 2002 World Cup.

No African nation hosted the event, despite the fact that FIFA had offered 4 African countries (Algeria, Ghana, South Africa and Egypt) to host the event. The offers were rejected by three of the countries, while South Africa rejected the offer after they were chosen as hosts of the 2010 World Cup.

Australia defied the odds by winning the tournament, beating Germany **4-0** in the final, while Croatia defeated South Korea in in third place play-off (3-1, **a.e.t**). Wales, Iceland, New Zealand, Lithuania, Costa Rica, Greece and Qatar qualified for the first time in the competition, making it a record 7 new nations to participate. Yugoslavia also made their first appearance since 1991, when they were denied after war and violence started in the country.

Over 115 goals were scored in just the group stage, setting a record, while 39 goals were scored in the knock-out stage, the least scored in a knock-out stage. This was also the first time that **Top Matches** were published by FIFA after the final match. Top matches included highest upsets, the highest scoring and the most memorable knock-out matches played.

South Korea were awarded the Fair-Play Award, an award that is given to the national team that had the least yellow and red cards, and least fouls. South Korea also were, alongside the Australian team, named ''Tournament Wizards'', a recognition by FIFA in which an underdog team had a row of being unbeaten, or had finished in the top four with low rankings (Australia was ranked 71st prior to the competition, and was ranked 1st after beating both Brazil, Spain and Croatia to advance to the final against Germany).

Ronaldo was the only scorer of Brazil through their entire group stage campaign, and earned the Golden Boot Award for his seven strikes, amid the fact that Brazil suffered a humiliating **1-0** defeat to Australia. Archie Thompson, who had 5 strikes and played over 320 minutes, was awarded the Best Player title, and he also didn't earn any disciplinary cards through the competition. Aside from the Best Player Award, he also earned the Silver Shoe. Landon Donovan was voted as Best Young Player for his 4 strikes, and 175 minutes played. He earned 1 yellow card. Oliver Kahn was awarded the Golden Glove for his 14 clean sheets, and only 4 conceded goals (played as a sub against in group stage, later played as main goalkeeper during the knock-out stage, only earning 4 strikes from Australia in the final).

## Qualification

Since 32 international countries were chosen as the hosts, automatic qualifying was allowed so that the qualifying campaigns are not to be clashing the 2002 World Cup qualifications. The smallest country to earn the right to host was Qatar, while the largest was Russia.

**QUALIFIED TEAMS**

## Group stage

The group stage was played between 10th June and 25th June. Three rounds were played, and the opening match was played between defending title holders Spain and Denmark, and finished **3-0** in Spain's favor, while the biggest shock of the group stage was considered to be Brazil's heavy **0-2** defeat to USA.

**Group A**

**Group B**

**Group C**

**Group D**

**Group E**

**Group F**

**Group G**

**Group H**

## Knock out stage

The knock out stage was played from 28th June to 10th June, when the final was played.

### **Final**

The final game was played on 10th July 2001, between Australia and Germany, around 17:00 and was hosted in the Estádio do Maracanã, one of the largest stadiums in the world. It was won by outsiders (underdogs) Australia, who dominated Germany 4-0 after just 60 minutes of play, which ended being the final score. The scoreline was opened in the 21st minute by a goal from Aloisi, who later scored for 2:0, just 4 minutes after his first goal (25'), marking a brace. Thompson later added scoring in the 45th minute, and he finished off the Germans with a 20 meter free-kick in the 55th minute, finalizing the game 4-0.