South Africa qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining seven spots were determined by the qualification rounds which took place from May to July 2004.

The defending champions receives no automatic qualification from this edition of the tournament onwards.

If scores were tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied and if still level, extra time would be skipped and will use the last-resort tie breaker of a penalty shoot-out.

The seven winners of the qualification round qualified for the group stage.

(3 for a win, 1 for a draw and none for a loss) If two or more teams in the group stage are tied on points tie-breakers are in order: At this stage, if a match is level at the end of 90 minutes and additional playing time, extra time, except for the third place match, is played and followed by a penalty shoot-out if necessary.