The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process will decide 31 of the 32 teams which will play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 remaining FIFA member associations were eligible to enter the qualifying process, and for the first time in World Cup history, all eligible national teams registered for the preliminary competition, but Zimbabwe and Indonesia were disqualified before playing their first matches. Bhutan, South Sudan, Gibraltar and Kosovo made their FIFA World Cup qualification debuts.
While the main qualifying draw took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg on 25 July 2015, a number of qualification matches were played before that. The first began in Dili, Timor Leste on 12 March 2015 as part of the AFC's qualification, with East Timorese player Chiquito do Carmo scoring the first goal of qualification. Matches were also played in CONCACAF prior to the main draw.
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Qualified teams
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Qualification process
The number of teams participating in the final tournament is 32. Even though the qualification process began in March 2015, the allocation of slots for each confederation was discussed by the FIFA Executive Committee on 30 May 2015 in Zürich after the FIFA Congress. It was decided that the same allocation as 2014 would be kept for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
Summary of qualification
While all FIFA members entered the tournament, not all competed. Zimbabwe were expelled from the competition on 12 March 2015 for their failure to pay former coach José Claudinei a severance fee and Indonesia were excluded from the qualifying competition following the suspension of their football association by FIFA on 30 May 2015. Kuwait had a number of their qualifiers cancelled for a similar suspension that began while their campaign was underway, which eventually resulted in their elimination.
Note: One team each from AFC, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, and OFC will play in the inter-confederation play-offs, scheduled for 6-14 November 2017 (CONCACAF v AFC and OFC v CONMEBOL).
Note: UEFA total includes +1 for Russia as hosts.
Format
The formats of the qualifying competitions depend on each confederation (see below). Each round may be played in either of the following formats:
- League format, where more than two teams form groups to play home-and-away round-robin matches, or in exceptions permitted by the FIFA Organizing Committee, single round-robin matches hosted by one of the participating teams or on neutral territory.
- Knockout format, where two teams play home-and-away two-legged matches.
Tiebreakers
In league format, the ranking of teams in each group is based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7):
- Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
- Goal difference
- Goals scored
- Points in matches between tied teams
- Goal difference in matches between tied teams
- Goals scored in matches between tied teams
- Away goals scored in matches between tied teams (if the tie is only between two teams in home-and-away league format)
- Fair play points
- first yellow card: minus 1 point
- indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points
- direct red card: minus 4 points
- yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points
- Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee
In cases where teams finishing in the same position across different groups are compared for determining which teams advance to the next stage, the criteria is decided by the confederation and require the approval of FIFA (regulations Article 20.8).
In knockout format, the team that has the higher aggregate score over the two legs progresses to the next round. In the event that aggregate scores finish level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs progresses. If away goals are also equal, then thirty minutes of extra time are played, divided into two fifteen-minutes halves. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, i.e. if there are goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team qualifies by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by penalty shoot-out (regulations Article 20.9).
Confederation qualification
AFC
The AFC Executive Committee meeting on 16 April 2014 approved the proposal to merge the preliminary qualification rounds of the FIFA World Cup and the AFC Asian Cup, which will be expanded to 24 teams starting in 2019:
- First round: A total of 12 teams (teams ranked 35-46) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round.
- Second round: A total of 40 teams (teams ranked 1-34 and six first round winners) were divided into eight groups of five teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The eight group winners and the four best group runners-up advanced to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualification as well as qualified for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals.
- Third round: The 12 teams (an increase from 10 for 2014) which advance from the second round were divided into two groups of six teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the two third-placed teams will advance to the fourth round.
- Fourth round: The two third-placed teams of each group from the third round will play home-and-away over two legs. The winner will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs, playing the fourth-placed CONCACAF team.
A total of 24 teams eliminated from World Cup qualification in the second round will compete in the third round of 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification (which will be separate from the third round of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification), where they will be divided into six groups of four teams and compete for the remaining slots of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. The 24 teams will consist of the 16 highest ranked teams eliminated in the second round, and the eight teams that advance from the play-off round of 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification which are contested by the remaining 12 teams eliminated in the second round.
Current stage (third round)
The draw for the third round was held on 12 April 2016 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Group A
Group B
CAF
The CAF Executive Committee approved the format for the qualifiers of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 14 January 2015. However, on 9 July 2015 FIFA officially announced that only three rounds will be played instead of four.
- First round: A total of 26 teams (teams ranked 28-53) played home-and-away over two legs. The 13 winners advanced to the second round.
- Second round: A total of 40 teams (teams ranked 1-27 and 13 first round winners) played home-and-away over two legs. The 20 winners advanced to the third round.
- Third round: The 20 teams which advance from the second round were divided into five groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winners of each group will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Zimbabwe, even though they entered the competition, were expelled on 12 March 2015 for their failure to pay former coach José Claudinei a severance fee. Therefore, only 53 African teams were involved in the draw.
Current stage (third round)
The draw for the third round was held on 24 June 2016 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
CONCACAF
An amendment to the qualification process for this tournament had been suggested, which would see the first three rounds played as knockout rounds, with both the fourth round and the final round (referred to as 'The Hex') played as group stages. The first round would be played during the FIFA international dates of 23-31 March 2015. CONCACAF announced the full details on 12 January 2015:
- First round: A total of 14 teams (teams ranked 22-35) played home-and-away over two legs. The seven winners advanced to the second round.
- Second round: A total of 20 teams (teams ranked 9-21 and seven first round winners) played home-and-away over two legs. The ten winners advanced to the third round.
- Third round: A total of 12 teams (teams ranked 7-8 and ten second round winners) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the fourth round.
- Fourth round: A total of 12 teams (teams ranked 1-6 and six third round winners) were divided into three groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group advanced to the fifth round.
- Fifth round: The six teams which advanced from the fourth round will play home-and-away round-robin matches in one single group. The top three teams will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the fourth-placed team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs, playing the winner of the Asian Football Confederation play-off.
Current stage (fifth round)
The draw for the fifth round (to decide the fixtures) was held on 8 July 2016 at the CONCACAF headquarters in Miami Beach, United States.
CONMEBOL
The qualification structure is the same as the previous five editions. The ten teams will play in a league of home-and-away round-robin matches. The top four teams will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the fifth-placed team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs, playing the winner of the Oceania Football Confederation qualifying competition.
Unlike previous qualifying tournaments where the fixtures were pre-determined, the fixtures were decided by a draw held on 25 July 2015, at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Current stage
OFC
The qualification structure is as follows:
- First round: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa, and Tonga played a round-robin tournament at a single country. The winner advanced to the second round.
- Second round (OFC Nations Cup): A total of eight teams (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu, and the first round winner) played the tournament at a single country. For the group stage, they were divided into two groups of four teams. The top three teams of each group advanced to the third round of World Cup qualifying. The top two teams of each group also advanced to the knockout stage (semi-finals and final) to decide the 2016 OFC Nations Cup winner which will play in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.
- Third round: The six teams which advance from the second round were divided into two groups of three teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The two group winners will meet in a two-legged match with the winner advancing to the inter-confederation play-offs, playing the fifth-placed South American team.
The OFC have considered different proposals of the qualifying tournament. A previous proposal adopted by the OFC in October 2014 would have the eight teams divided into two groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches in the second round, followed by the top two teams of each group advancing to the third round to play in a single group of home-and-away round-robin matches to decide the winner of the 2016 OFC Nations Cup which would qualify to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and advance to the inter-confederation play-offs. However, it was later reported in April 2015 that the OFC had reversed its decision, and the 2016 OFC Nations Cup was played as a one-off tournament similar to the 2012 OFC Nations Cup.
Current stage (third round)
The draw for the third round was held on 8 July 2016 at the OFC headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.
Group A
Group B
Final
The draw for the final (which decided the order of legs) was held on 15 June 2017, 16:00 NZST (UTC+12), at the OFC headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.
UEFA
Russia have qualified automatically as hosts. The qualifying format for the remaining FIFA-affiliated UEFA teams was confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on 22-23 March 2015 in Vienna. The draw for the UEFA zone took place on 25 July 2015 in St. Petersburg.
- First round (group stage): The 52 UEFA teams affiliated with FIFA at the time of the draw were divided into nine groups (seven groups of six teams and two groups of five teams) to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winners of each group will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the eight best runners-up will advance to the second round (play-offs).
- Second round (play-offs): The eight best runners-up from the first round will play home-and-away over two legs. The four winners will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
With the admission of Gibraltar and Kosovo as FIFA members in May 2016, both national teams were eligible to make their debuts in World Cup qualifying. With two groups of only five teams in the first round, Kosovo was assigned to group I as it was decided that Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia should not play against Kosovo for security reasons, and Gibraltar was then added to group H.
Current stage (first round)
The draw for the first round was held on 25 July 2015, at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Inter-confederation play-offs
The inter-confederation play-offs are scheduled to be played between 6-14 November 2017.
The matchups were decided at the preliminary draw which was held on 25 July 2015, at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
CONCACAF v AFC
OFC v CONMEBOL
Top goalscorers
Note: Players in bold are still active in the competition.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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