ASX World Cup: The 16 finalists

The group stage is over, here come the finals!

Mike King

Mike King is a Fool.com.au Investment Analyst and Writer. He caught the investing bug more than a decade ago, at a time when the U.S. had invaded Iraq and fear reigned in the markets. His initial success as the markets took off encouraged his passion and thirst for knowledge. With 13 years behind him at one of Australia's largest domestic banks, Mike's passion for stocks led him to join a boutique funds management firm, where he stayed for four years. A seven-year stint in equity research at one of the largest investment banks in the world followed that, giving Mike a thirst to pursue his passion further. Mike holds a Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment and a Graduate Certificate in Financial Planning. His passion is to help retail investors invest better, and that passion was one of his primary reasons for joining The Motley Fool Australia in late 2011. Mike has written thousands of articles since joining, including for Fairfax Media, Yahoo!7, Ninemsn and has also appeared on ABC's The Business. You can see all of Mikes' holdings here

Published June 27, 2014 4:43 pm AEST

Well, the Group stage has drawn to a close, and we're now into the sudden death matches, with the loser going home.

And much like the World Cup being played in Brazil, some top flight companies have missed out on a spot and their chance to be crowned king of the ASX World Cup.

So without further ado, here's the list of finalists.

Group A (Banks)

Winner: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ)
Second Place: Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX: WBC)

Group B (Resources)

Winner: BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP)
Second Place: Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO)

Group C (Insurers)

Winner: Insurance Australia Group (ASX: IAG)
Second Place: Suncorp Group (ASX: SUN)

Group D (Infrastructure)

Winner: Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) – (on goal difference)
Second Place: Transurban (ASX: TCL)

Group E (Oil & Gas)

Winner: Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL)
Second Place: Santos Limited (ASX: STO)

Group F (Retail)

Winner: Westfield Corp (ASX: WFD)
Second Place: Coca-Cola Amatil (ASX: CCL) (on a goal count back)

Group G (Internationals)

Winner: Computershare Limited (ASX: CPU)
Second Place: Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG)

Group H (Healthcare)

Winner: Resmed Inc (ASX: RMD)
Second Place: CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)

So we now have 8 matches to find our final four. ANZ is matched up against Rio, while BHP plays Westpac. Insurance Australia Group takes on Transurban, while Telstra takes on Suncorp. In the remaining four games, Woodside plays Coca-Cola Amatil, Computershare takes on CSL, Resmed is up against Macquarie and Westfield takes on Santos.

It's getting down to the pointy end of the competition Fools, stay tuned to see who takes out the inaugural Motley Fool ASX World Cup. As Big Kev would have said, "I'm excited!"

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