FIFA World Cup qualifiers fixtures 2018
Excited about 2018 Fifa World Cup? Want to know more about the World Cup qualifiers fixtures? This article will give you detailed information about each and every match of World Cup qualifiers. Do you know about the rules and regulations of World Cup tournaments? How about how many African countries are going to play in the upcoming tournament? This article will give you all the answers.
World Cup 2018
The famous football World Cup 2018 scheduled in Russia, is organized by FIFA (federation international football association). The kick-off begins from 14th June. This will be the first World Cup which will take place in Eastern Europe. The venues of all the stadiums are in Eastern Russia. The host team Russia will automatically qualify and by the qualification matches they will select 31 national teams for the main tournament. Panama and Iceland are making their first appearance in the World Cup. 20 teams of the 32 teams made appearances back to back. FIFA selected a total of 12 stadiums situated in 11 towns. There will be a total of 64 matches in the entire tournament. In Moscow at Luzhniki Stadium the final match will take place. The winner team will automatically qualify for the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup.
2018 Fifa World Cup details
- Host Country: Russia
- Dates: 14th June-15th July
- Teams-32(5 confederations)
- Venues- 12 (in 11 Host Towns)
World Cup 2018 qualifiers
The six FIFA confederations started the process for selecting the best 32 teams for the main tournament. The qualifier matches for the world cup begun on 12th March 2015 and ended on 15th November 2017. Russia the host of the tournament will qualify automatically and the rest of 210 association member countries of FIFA from 6 confederations registered them for the preliminary matches. Indonesia and Zimbabwe failed to enter the tournament due to some issues and South Sudan, Bhutan, Kosovo and Gibraltar made their first appearance in the FIFA world cup qualifier.
The main draw for the qualifying matches occurred in Strelna, Sent Pertersberg at Konstantinovsky on July 25th 2015. In 12th March 2015, in Dili Timor Leste the first match for the qualification process has been played. These matches have been played for the AFC qualification.
FIFA World Cup 2018 qualification
Details of the tournament
- Date- March 12th 2015 – November 15th 2017
- Teams- 210 (6 confederations)
Statistics of the tournament
- Goal scored- 2,454
- Matches Played- 872
- Attendance- 21,469 each match (18,720,691 total)
Top scorers
- Ahmed Khalil( United Arab Emirates)
- Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
- Mohammad Al-Sahlawi (Saudi Arabia)
READ ALSO: World cup qualifiers 2018 Africa
Qualification process and World Cup qualifiers fixtures
In March 2015, the qualification for the FIFA World Cup 2018 begun. A total of 32 teams are participating in the final event. The FIFA executive committee has decided that the team allocation will be the same as 2014.
Bad luck for Zimbabwe, they are disqualified from the tournament because they failed to pay the former coach Jose Claudinei. Indonesia on other hand is also disqualified for a past issue, for their suspension from FIFA in 30th 2015. Kuwait failed to qualify because of their suspension during the World Cup campaign. The first qualified team was Brazil for their 3-0 victory against Paraguay. The last qualified team was Peru for gaining victory against New Zealand 2-0.
There are a total of 6 confederations on FIFA. Each one has a qualification capacity. Here is a list of confederations with the details of current World Cup qualifiers.
- Confederations-Final Slot -Team started -Eliminated teams -Qualified teams -Start and End date
- CAF - 5 - 54 - 49 - 5 - 7th Oct-14th Nov
- AFC - 4.5 - 46 - 41- 5 - 12th Mar-15th Nov
- CONMEBOL - 4.5- 10 - 5 - 5 - 8th Oct ’15-15th Nov ‘17
- CONCACAF - 3.5 - 35 - 32- 3 - 22nd Mar’15-15thNov’17
- UEFA - 13+1 - 54+1 - 41 - 13+1 - 4th Sept ’16-14thNov’17
- OFC - 0.5 - 11 - 11 - 0 - 31st Aug’15-15thNov’17
- Total - 31+1 - 210+1 - 179 - 31+1 - 12th Mar’15- 15th Nov ‘17
Format
Each confederation has its own format. The following formats are-
- Round-robin matches where each team from one group has to play two matches with remaining teams of the group. They need to play one home and one away match with each other.
- Another format is knockout matches where two legged matches have been played with two teams.
Tiebreakers
The team rankings of each group depends on the following points
- For win 3 points, for draw 1 points and for loss 0 points.
- Goal scored overall
- Total goal difference
- Amount of goal scored between two tied teams
- Goal difference in tied matches
- Scoring away goals in tied games
- Points for fair play-
- Minus 1 point for first yellow card
- Minus 3 points for second yellow card
- Minus 4 points for direct red card
- Minus 5 points direct red card and yellow card
The team that has a better score (higher score) advances to the next round from World Cup qualifiers groups. If a team scores more goals than home then that team gets the advantage. If the away goals are equal then two team plays for extra time (30 minutes) 15 minutes per half. After the extra time the away goal rule again applies, if the goal score is level after the extra 30 minutes then the team with highest away goal qualifies to the next round. If there are no goals scored during extra time then the match ends up with a penalty shoot–out.
Confederation qualifications/ Zone 2018 World Cup qualifiers
Here the list of world cup qualifiers 2018 from each confederation.
AFC (Asian football confederation)
In 16th April 2014 the executive committee of AFC discussed the proposal about merging the prelim qualification rounds of Asian cup and FIFA World Cup. They decided to add more teams and this regulation is going to start from 2019.
- First Round-The team has a rank between 35-46 played away-home matches and depending upon their performances six of them will be qualified for the next round.
- Second Round-The 2nd round played by a total of 40 teams (rank 1-34 and teams qualified in the first round). They were divided into eight groups. Five teams of each group played away home matches with every team. So each team played a total of 8 matches in this division. From the standing chart eight high performers and four group runners-up advanced to the next round.
- Third Round-A total of 12 teams (12 teams from 2nd round) divided into two groups. Each group consists of six teams played home away match each other and two top teams from each group qualifies for the FIFA world cup and third place owners from each group qualified for the 4th round of AFC.
- Fourth round-The third placed teams played a home away and the winner qualified for inter-confederation playoffs.
In 12th April, at Madndarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lampur Malyasia the schedule for the third round was held. They divided 12 teams into two groups. Here is the result of the third round.
Group A
Group B
Qualified:
- Country - AFC qualifier
- Iran - Third Round Group A winners
- South Korea - Third Round Group A runners up
- Japan - Third Round Group B winners
- Saudi Arabia - Third Round Group B runners up
- Australia - Inter-confederation play-off winners
Disqualified:
- Country -AFC stage reached
- Syria- Fourth Round
- Uzbekistan- Third Round
- China- Third Round
- United Arab Emirates-Third Round
- Iraq-Third Round
- Thailand-Third Round
- Qatar- Third Round
- Palestine- Second Round
- Malaysia- Second Round
- Timor-Leste-Second Round
- Jordan-Second Round
- Kyrgyzstan-Second Round
- Tajikistan-Second Round
- Bangladesh-Second Round
- Hong Kong-Second Round
- Maldives- Second Round
- Bhutan-Second Round
- Oman-Second Round
- Turkmenistan- Second Round
- Guam-Second Round
- India- Second Round
- Singapore - Second Round
- Afghanistan-Second Round
- Cambodia-Second Round
- Vietnam- Second Round
- Chinese Taipei-Second Round
- Indonesia- Second Round
- Lebanon- Second Round
- Kuwait- Second Round
- Myanmar- Second Round
- Laos- Second Round
- North Korea - Second Round
- Philippines- Second Round
- Bahrain -Second Round
- Yemen -Second Round
- Nepal- First Round
- Pakistan- First Round
- Mongolia- First Round
- Macau- First Round
- Brunei-First Round
- Sri Lanka- First Round
CONCACAF
In 12th January 2015 CONCACAF released the draw for the fifa World Cup qualifiers. In their qualifiers first three rounds were knockout, the fourth and final rounds which also referred as The Hex were played as tournaments or group stages.
- First round: Out of 14 teams (22-35 ranked), 7 teams have been selected by playing over two legs home away matches. 7 qualifiers advanced to the next round by playing home away matches.
- Second round: Out of 20 teams (9-21 ranked and first round qualifiers), first 10 teams qualified for the next round by playing home away matches.
- Third round: Out of 12 teams (team rank 7-8 and 2nd round qualifiers), first 6 qualified for the next round by playing home away matches.
- Fourth round: Remaining six teams were divided into three groups and teams played away home matches with each of them. First two teams from each group qualified for the next round.
- Fifth round: Six teams from the fourth round played home away matches with each other and top three from the standings got selected for the FIFA world cup.
Qualified
Fifa World Cup 2018 qualifiers from the CONCACAF confederation.
Country - CONCACAF qualification place
- Mexico - Fifth Round first place
- Costa Rica -Fifth Round second place
- Panama - Fifth Round third place
Eliminated
Country - CONCACAF stage reached
- Honduras-Inter- Confederational play-off
- United States- Fifth Round
- Trinidad & Tobago- Fifth Round
- Canada - Fourth Round
- El Salvador -Fourth Round
- Haiti- Fourth Round
- Jamaica - Fourth Round
- Guatemala- Fourth Round
- Saint Vincent & the Grenadines - Fourth Round
- Curacao - Third Round
- Belize - Third Round
- Grenada - Third Round
- Nicaragua - Third Round
- Aruba - Third Round
- Antigua & Barbuda - Third Round
- Guyana - Second Round
- Saint Lucia - Second Round
- Puerto Rico - Second Round
- Dominica - Second Round
- Domincan Republic - Second Round
- Bermuda - Second Round
- Barbados - Second Round
- Saint Kitts & Nevis - Second Round
- Cuba - Second Round
- Suriname - Second Round
- Bahamas - First Round
- British Virgin Islands - First Round
- U.S. Virgin Islands - First Round
- Turks & Caicos Islands - First Round
- Anguilla - First Round
- Cayman Islands - First Round
- Montserrat - First Round
CONMEBOL (South America) qualification
Basically the tournament structure of selecting the teams for World Cup qualifiers South America is the same as other confederation tournaments. Here, are the details of South America World Cup qualifiers.
Qualified:
This is the South America world cup qualifiers table along with qualification place.
Country - CONMEBOL qualification place
- Brazil - First place
- Uruguay - Second place
- Argentina - Third place
- Colombia - Fourth place
- Peru - Inter-confederation play-off winners
The following teams have been disqualified from the tournament.
Disqualified:
Country - CONMEBOL stage reached
- Chile - First Round
- Paraguay - First Round
- Ecuador - First Round
- Bolivia - First Round
- Venezuela - First Round
OFC qualification
Qualified:
None
Disqualified:
Country - OFC stage reached
- New Zealand - Inter-confederation play-off
- Solomon Islands - Fourth Round
- New Caledonia - Third Round
- Fiji - Third Round
- Tahiti - Third Round
- Papua New Guinea - Third Round
- Samoa - Second Round
- Vanuatu - Second Round
- American Samoa - First Round
- Cook Islands - First Round
- Tonga - First Round
UEFA (World cup qualifiers Europe) qualification
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification groups of UEFA
Qualified:
Country - UEFA qualification place
- Russia - World Cup hosts
- France - Group A winners
- Portugal - Group B winners
- Germany - Group C winners
- Serbia - Group D winners
- Poland - Group E winners
- England - Group F winners
- Spain - Group G winners
- Belgium - Group H winners
- Iceland - Group I winners
- Switzerland - Play-off winners
- Croatia - Play-off winners
- Sweden - Play-off winners
- Denmark - Play-off winners
Disqualified:
Country - UEFA stage reached
- Republic of Ireland - Play-off
- Italy - Play-off
- Greece - Play-off
- Northern Ireland - Play-off
- Netherlands - First Round
- Slovakia - First Round
- Wales - First Round
- Ukraine - First Round
- Bulgaria - First Round
- Austria - First Round
- Turkey - First Round
- Cyprus - First Round
- Albania - First Round
- Estonia - First Round
- Israel - First Round
- Romania - First Round
- Armenia - First Round
- Czech Republic - First Round
- Norway - First Round
- Azerbaijan - First Round
- Hungary - First Round
- Belarus - First Round
- Luxembourg - First Round
- San Marino - First Round
- Malta - First Round
- Macedonia - First Round
- Liechtenstein - First Round
- Finland - First Round
- Kosovo - First Round
- Faroe Islands - First Round
- Andorra - First Round
- Latvia - First Round
- Gibraltar - First Round
- Georgia - First Round
- Moldova - First Round
- Lithuania - First Round
- Kazakhstan - First Round
- Montenegro - First Round
- Slovenia - First Round
- Scotland - First Round
- Bosnia & Herzegovina - First Round
CAF (Confederation of African football) 2018 World Cup qualifiers Africa
The executive committee decided to go with only three rounds for qualifying playoffs. The first round is almost similar with the first round of AFC.
- First round: In first round a total of 26 teams ranked 28-53 played away and home matches with each other. A total of 54 matches have been played. Top 13 teams from the standings advanced to the next stage.
- Second round: In 2nd round a total of 40 teams ranked 1-27 and first round qualifiers played away and home matches and from the standings top 20 teams got qualified for the next round.
- Third round: The qualifiers of second round a total of 20 teams were divided into five groups. Each of the team from individual group plays home and away match with each other. The winner team from each group has been qualified for FIFA 2018 World Cup.
It’s a very shocking fact that Zimbabwe entered the qualifier, but failed to pay their former coach a severance fee which resulted into a disqualification from the qualifying tournament. A total of 53 teams were played in the draw.
Third round World Cup draw 2018
In CAF headquarter in Cairo Egypt the third round was held on June 24th 2016.
World Cup qualifiers Africa fixtures
Here is a table of world cup qualifier fixture and result of CAF.
2018 World Cup qualifiers Africa table
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
The following is the Ghana World Cup qualifiers table. Ghana black stars World Cup qualifying match would turn into reality if they could score more goals in the qualifying matches.
World Cup qualifiers 2018 Africa teams/World Cup qualifiers tables
Here is the table of Africa World Cup qualifiers
- Country - CAF qualification place
- Nigeria -Third round Group B winners
- Egypt -Third round Group E winners
- Senegal - Third round Group D winners
- Tunisia -Third Round Group A winners
- Morocco - Third Round Group C winners
READ ALSO: World cup qualifiers
Here is a picture of African World Cup qualifiers group chart of third round. Only 5 teams from this table qualified for World Cup.
Disqualified:
- Country - CAF stage Reached
- DR Congo-Third Round
- Ivory Coast-Third Round
- Cape Verde-Third Round
- Burkina Faso-Third Round
- South Africa-Third Round
- Uganda-Third Round
- Ghana-Third Round
- Gabon-Third Round
- Zambia-Third Round
- Mali-Third Round
- Cameroon-Third Round
- Algeria-Third Round
- Guinea-Third Round
- Libya-Third Round
- Congo-Third Round
- Niger-Second Round
- Mauritania-Second Round
- Namibia-Second Round
- Ethiopia-Second Round
- Chad-Second Round
- Comoros-Second Round
- Swaziland-Second Round
- Botswana-Second Round
- Burundi-Second Round
- Liberia-Second Round
- Madagascar-Second Round
- Kenya-Second Round
- Tanzania-Second Round
- Sudan-Second Round
- Rwanda -Second Round
- Equatorial Guinea-Second Round
- Mozambique-Second Round
- Benin-Second Round
- Togo-Second Round
- Angola-Second Round
- Somalia-First Round
- South Sudan-First Round
- Gambia-First Round
- Sao Tome & Principe - First Round
- Sierra Leone-First Round
- Lesotho - First Round
- Djibouti - First Round
- Eritrea- First Round
- Seychelles- First Round
- Guinea-Bissau- First Round
- Central African Republic - First Round
- Mauritius- First Round
- Malawi- First Round
Here is the picture of World Cup 2018 qualifiers Africa
READ ALSO:World cup qualifiers 2018 Africa
World Cup qualifiers results
Here is the table of World Cup qualifiers 2018
- Country- Confederation
- Russia-UEFA (hosts)
- Australia-AFC
- Iran-AFC
- Japan-AFC
- Saudi Arabia-AFC
- South Korea -AFC
- Nigeria - CAF
- Egypt- CAF
- Senegal -CAF
- Tunisia -CAF
- Morocco- CAF
- Mexico- CONCACAF
- Costa Rica- CONCACAF
- Panama- CONCACAF
- Brazil- CONMEBOL
- Uruguay- CONMEBOL
- Argentina- CONMEBOL
- Colombia- CONMEBOL
- Peru- CONMEBOL
- Belgium- UEFA
- Germany- UEFA
- England- UEFA
- Spain- UEFA
- Poland- UEFA
- Iceland- UEFA
- Serbia- UEFA
- France- UEFA
- Portugal- UEFA
- Switzerland - UEFA
- Croatia -UEFA
- Sweden -UEFA
- Denmark- UEFA
2018 World Cup draw
In December 1, 2017 the World Cup draw 2018 took place. Spain and Portugal were in same group. Another interesting fact Nigeria and Argentina will face each other, we will not forget about their rivalry. They are also in the same group.
World Cup qualifiers 2018 fixtures
Here is the table of World Cup 2018 fixtures.
Source: YEN.com.gh
