2014 FIFA World Cup qualification: Difference between revisions

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Tournament details
Dates	15 June 2011 – 20 November 2013
Teams	203 (from 6 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	769
Goals scored	2,190 (2.85 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Deon McCaulay Robin van Persie (11 goals)
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The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification competition is a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 2014 World Cup will feature 32 teams, with one place reserved for the hosts, Brazil. The remaining 31 places are determined by a qualification process, in which entrants from among the other 207 teams from the six FIFA confederations will compete. Most qualifying teams will be determined within these confederations, with a limited number of inter-confederation play-offs occurring at the end of the process. Bhutan, Brunei, Guam and Mauritania did not enter,^[1] and South Sudan joined FIFA after the qualification process started and therefore could not take part.

The first qualification match, between Montserrat and Belize, was played on 15 June 2011 and the Belizean striker Deon McCaulay scored the first goal in qualification. The originally published schedule would have consisted of 824 qualifying matches,^[2] but the withdrawal of the Bahamas and Mauritius means only 816 will be required.^[3][4]

As of 15 October 2013, 18 teams have secured qualification and 26 teams remain in contention for 14 remaining qualification places.

Qualified teams

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA Ranking at start of event
Brazil	Host	30 October 2007	20th	2010	Winners (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)
Japan	AFC Fourth Round Group B Winners	4 June 2013	5th	2010	Round of 16 (2002, 2010)
Australia	AFC Fourth Round Group B Runners-up	18 June 2013	4th	2010	Round of 16 (2006)
Iran	AFC Fourth Round Group A Winners	18 June 2013	4th	2006	Group Stage (1978, 1998, 2006)
South Korea	AFC Fourth Round Group A Runners-up	18 June 2013	9th	2010	Fourth Place (2002)
Netherlands	UEFA Group D Winners	10 September 2013	10th	2010	Runners-up (1974, 1978, 2010)
Italy	UEFA Group B Winners	10 September 2013	18th	2010	Winners (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006)
United States	CONCACAF Fourth Round Winners	10 September 2013	10th	2010	Third Place (1930)
Costa Rica	CONCACAF Fourth Round	10 September 2013	4th	2006	Round of 16 (1990)
Argentina	CONMEBOL Winners	10 September 2013	16th	2010	Winners (1978, 1986)
Belgium	UEFA Group A Winners	11 October 2013	12th	2002	Fourth Place (1986)
Switzerland	UEFA Group E Winners	11 October 2013	10th	2010	Quarter-finals (1934, 1938, 1954)
Germany	UEFA Group C Winners	11 October 2013	18th	2010	Winners (1954, 1974, 1990)
Colombia	CONMEBOL	11 October 2013	5th	1998	Round of 16 (1990)
Russia	UEFA Group F Winners	15 October 2013	10th	2002	Fourth Place (1966)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	UEFA Group G Winners	15 October 2013	1st	N/A
England	UEFA Group H Winners	15 October 2013	14th	2010	Winners (1966)
Spain	UEFA Group I Winners	15 October 2013	13th	2010	Winners (2010)

Confederation qualification

The Executive Committee decided to approve the change of date for the preliminary draw of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which was held six months earlier than in the past, in order to allow the confederations to begin their qualifying competitions in good time. The draw was held on 30 July 2011 at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The distribution by confederation for the 2014 World Cup will be:^[5]

• Europe (UEFA): 13 places
• Africa (CAF): 5 places
• Asia (AFC): 4 or 5 places
• South America (CONMEBOL) 4 or 5 places (+ Brazil qualified automatically as host nation for a total of 5 or 6 places)
• North, Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 3 or 4 places
• Oceania (OFC): 0 or 1 place

UEFA and CAF have a guaranteed number of places, whereas the number of qualifiers from other confederations is dependent on play-offs between AFC's fifth-placed team and CONMEBOL's fifth-placed team, and between CONCACAF's fourth-placed team and OFC's first-placed team. A draw determined the pairings between the four teams involved.

Summary of qualification

Confederation	Teams started	Teams that have secured qualification	Teams that can still qualify	Teams that have been eliminated	Remaining places in finals	Total places in finals	Next matchday	Qualifying end date
AFC	43	4	1	38	0 or 1	4 or 5	–	10 September 2013
CAF	52	0	10	42	5	5	16 November 2013	19 November 2013
CONCACAF	35	2	3	30	1 or 2	3 or 4	15 October 2013	15 October 2013
CONMEBOL	9+1	2+1	3	4	2 or 3	4+1 or 5+1	15 October 2013	15 October 2013
OFC	11	0	1	10	0 or 1	0 or 1	–	26 March 2013
UEFA	53	9	8	29	4	13	15 November 2013	19 November 2013
Total	203+1	17+1	26	164	14	31+1	15 October 2013	20 November 2013

Tiebreakers

For FIFA World Cup qualifying stages using a league format, the method used for separating teams level on points is the same for all Confederations, as decided by FIFA itself.^[6] If teams are even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams will be ranked by:

1. goal difference in all group matches
2. greater number of goals scored in all group matches
3. greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams
4. goal difference in matches between the tied teams
5. greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams
6. greater number of away goals scored in matches between the tied teams if only two teams are tied

If teams are still equal then a single play-off at a neutral venue will be played. If scores are level after 90 minutes in the play-off, then two 15-minutes periods of extra time and (if required) a penalty shoot-out would determine the winner.

For FIFA World Cup qualifying stages using a home-and-away 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.

AFC

Qualification began with two sets of two-leg knockout qualification rounds – the first held on 29 June and 2 July and 3 July 2011 and the second on 23 and 28 July – reducing the number of teams in the main draw to 20.

As in the 2010 format, the third stage consisted of 5 groups of 4 teams (with matches held between September 2011 and February 2012) with the top 2 in each group advancing to 2 groups of 5 that played a further group stage during 2012. The top two teams in each group qualified for the 2014 World Cup directly, while the two third-placed teams engaged in a play-off tie for a chance to qualify via a further inter-confederation qualifying tie against a team from CONMEBOL.

The draw for the first two rounds of qualifiers was held in Kuala Lumpur on 30 March 2011.^[7]

The qualification process began with 43 national teams (out of 46 AFC members; Bhutan, Brunei and Guam did not enter) vying for four and a half spots. As of 10 September 2013, 38 nations have been eliminated. 4 nations have qualified: Japan, Australia, Iran and Korea Republic. Jordan beat Uzbekistan in round 5 and must now play a team from CONMEBOL for the right to qualify.

Final positions (Fourth Round)

Play-off for 5th place (Fifth Round)

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Jordan	2–2 (9–8 p)	Uzbekistan	1–1	1–1 (a.e.t.)

CAF

52 out of the 53 national associations affiliated to CAF entered the qualifying tournament to determine the continent’s five slots for the next World Cup (only Mauritania failed to enter, while South Sudan joined FIFA after the start of qualifying).

Qualification began with a first round of 12 two-legged knockout ties, which were held between 11 and 16 November 2011. The ties involved the 24 lowest-ranked teams according to FIFA world rankings. The 12 winners joined the remaining 28 CAF entrants in the second round, which consisted of 10 groups of four. The winners of each group – held between June 2012 and September 2013 – advanced to a third round of 5 two-legged knockout ties. The five winners of these ties – held in October and November 2013 – will advance to the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.

The qualification process began with 52 national teams vying for five spots. As of 8 September 2013, 42 nations have been eliminated, leaving 10 teams still in contention.

Current stage (Third Round)

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Ivory Coast	–	Senegal	3–1	16 Nov
Ethiopia	–	Nigeria	1–2	16 Nov
Tunisia	–	Cameroon	0–0	17 Nov
Ghana	–	Egypt	6–1	19 Nov
Burkina Faso	–	Algeria	3–2	19 Nov

CONCACAF

In May 2010, the CONCACAF Executive Committee announced a possible change in its qualifying format for the 2014 World Cup, which would start with a preliminary knockout stage followed by three group phases.^[8] However, these proposals were abandoned. CONCACAF is once again using a six-team final stage (known colloquially as "the Hexagonal"). The ten lowest-ranked nations played two-legged ties, with the five winners joining the nations ranked 7–25 in Round 2. There were six groups of four teams, with the six group winners joining the nations ranked 1–6 in Round 3. There were three groups of four teams and the top two teams in each group advanced to Round 4. These six nations formed one group, with the top three teams to qualifying and the fourth-placed team advancing to the inter-continental play-off against New Zealand, the top team from the OFC.

A total of 35 national teams began the qualification process vying for three and a half spots. As of 11 October 2013, 30 nations have been eliminated and the Bahamas withdrew (because their stadium was not completed in time for the competition)^[9]. Two nations, USA and Costa Rica, have qualified, leaving three nations still in contention for the remaining one-and-a-half spots. CONCACAF qualification will finish on 15 October 2013.

Current stage (Fourth Round)

CONMEBOL

As Brazil has already qualified as host, the remaining nine CONMEBOL teams take part in a double round-robin group, playing each other twice (home and away) using the same schedule as previous qualification tournaments (each team will have a bye on the date they would normally be scheduled to play Brazil). The top four teams qualify automatically, whereas the fifth-placed team will proceed to the inter-confederational play-offs against Jordan, the fifth placed team from Asia. Argentina and Colombia are so far the only teams to have qualified.

OFC

The four lowest-ranked nations (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa, and Tonga) competed in the first round of qualifying: a single round-robin tournament in Apia, Samoa, from 22–26 November 2011.^[10] The winners of the group, Samoa, joined the remaining 7 OFC teams in the 2012 OFC Nations Cup, which also doubled as the second qualifying round. The four semi-finalists of the Nations Cup advanced to Round Three, which consisted of a double round-robin held on a home-and-away basis between 7 September 2012 and 26 March 2013.

New Zealand, as the winners of Round Three, will then compete in a two-legged play-off against a team from CONCACAF for the right to play in the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.

Final positions (Third Round)

UEFA

The European qualification games started in September 2012, after Euro 2012.

All 53 national associations affiliated with UEFA take part in the qualification process, with thirteen qualifying places up for grabs. There are eight groups of six teams and a single group of five teams. The nine group winners qualify, while the eight best runners-up – ranked according to all their games except for games against the sixth-placed team in their group – will play-off for the four remaining spots. Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland have qualified thus far, leaving 8 places available at the World Cup.

Final positions (First Round)

Inter-confederation play-offs

There will be two scheduled inter-confederation playoffs to determine the final two qualification spots to the finals.

The first legs will be played on 13–14 November 2013, and the second legs will be played on 20 November 2013.^[11]

AFC 5th place v CONMEBOL 5th place

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Jordan		CONMEBOL Fifth place	13–14 Nov	20 Nov

CONCACAF 4th place v OFC winner

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CONCACAF Fourth place		New Zealand	13–14 Nov	20 Nov

Top goalscorers

As of 13 October 2013, there have been 2189 goals scored over 769 games, for an average of 2.85 goals per game.^{[citation needed]} Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.

11 goals

10 goals

9 goals

8 goals

7 goals

6 goals

References

External links

• 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil matches and results at FIFA.com
• Live Preliminary Draw