Eight nations qualified for the finals for the first time: Angola, Czech Republic, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, and صربیستان و مونته‌نقرو میلّی فوتبال تیمی. Czech Republic and Ukraine were making their first appearance as independent nations, but had previously been represented as part of چک ایسلواکی and the شوروی respectively; Serbia and Montenegro had competed as صربیستان و مونته‌نقرو in 1998, as well as making up part of Yugoslav teams from 1930 to 1990. As of 2018, this was the last time Togo, Angola, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Trinidad and Tobago qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals, and the last time اوروقوئه میلّی فوتبال تیمی and نیجریه میلّی فوتبال تیمی failed to qualify.