LONDON -- Germany, a three-time champion which has played in 15 of the 16 World Cups, tied Ukraine 1-1 Saturday in the opener of a playoff qualifier for next year's tournament.

In other openers of home-and-home, total-goals series, Ireland beat Iran 2-0, Slovenia edged Romania 2-1, Belgium defeated the Czech Republic 1-0, and Turkey topped Austria 1-0.

In exhibition games Saturday, South Africa beat Egypt 1-0, South Korea defeated Croatia 2-0, England and Sweden tied 1-1, Denmark and Netherlands tied 1-1, and Greece beat Estonia 4-2.

In Kiev, a crowd of 83,500 saw Henadiy Zubov take a free kick from Andriy Shevchenko and put the hosts ahead with a shot from the edge of the box in the 18th minute. Michael Ballack scored for Germany 13 minutes later from close range.

The countries play again Wednesday in Dortmund, Germany.

Germany was forced into the playoffs after losing 5-1 to England in a World Cup qualifier on Sept. 1 and finishing second in its European qualifying group.

In Dublin, Ireland won thanks to Ian Harte's penalty kick right before halftime and Robbie Keane's 20-yard shot five minutes after the break. Iran, which plays host to Ireland in Tehran on Thursday, had three good scoring chances. Irish goalkeeper Shay Given twice made saves on shots by Ali Karimi.

In Ljubljana, Slovenia rallied from a 1-0 deficit.

Romania led in the 26th minute, when Marius Niculae's clumsy shot deflected off a defender's foot and went in. Slovenia tied it in the 42nd minute on Mile Acimovic's header, and won it on Milan Osterc's goal.

In Brussels, captain Gert Verheyen took a pass from midfielder Sven Vermant and shot the ball past Czech goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek in the 28th minute.

Czech defender Tomas Repka was ejected at the end of the first half for elbowing Belgian midfielder Bart Goor in the face.

The teams play in Prague on Wednesday.

Belgium has qualified for every World Cup since 1982, while the Czechs haven't played in a World Cup since 1990, as part of Czechoslovakia.

In Vienna, Okan Buruk scored in the 60th minute for Turkey. The teams meet in Istanbul on Wednesday.