2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

[LittleOzzy]

The European section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification will act as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Russia, for national teams which are members of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Apart from Russia, which qualify automatically as hosts, a total of 13 slots in the final tournament are available for UEFA teams.

The qualifying format was confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on 22–23 March 2015 in Vienna.

Format

The qualification structure is as follows:

First round (group stage): The 52 teams will be 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.

Long wait for this one, doesn't start until Sept 2016.

[ATL Boy]

Draw happens July 25th. Wales and Romania are in pot 1, while Iceland has fought its way to pot 2 (after being in pot 5 for the Euro cup).

Bosnia got into pot 2 by the skin of their teeth. Just hoping to avoid Serbia/Poland from pot 3, an Turkey/Ireland from pot 4.


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[magik9113]

Wales and Romania lol

[cgf]

Why they can't just use the uefa rankings for the pots makes no sense.

[MaliBrah]

wales!!!!!!!!! c'mon wales

[El Turco]

same pot as faroe island, feels like 1970s again

[No_20]

Hope Turkey gets England, so they can improve their 0-31 GD against them.

[magik9113]

looking forward to the group of:
Romania, Austria, Hungary, Faroe Islands, Maldova, San Marino

[No_20]

We could see some major nations miss the WC with both France and Italy in pot 2.

They'll probably get Wales and Romania though.

[El Turco]

thing i dont understand is neither romania or wales qualified for a major competition in seven years, 60 years for the latter. no matter how you cut it their pot position doesnt make sense.

[Foye]

thing i dont understand is neither romania or wales qualified for a major competition in seven years, 60 years for the latter. no matter how you cut it their pot position doesnt make sense.

Actually, they benefit from not taking part in the last world cup I think. That's ridiculous.

Going out in WC group stage would've destroyed their coefficient and they'd be ranked much lower.

[Kaiser30]

thing i dont understand is neither romania or wales qualified for a major competition in seven years, 60 years for the latter. no matter how you cut it their pot position doesnt make sense.

Looking at the top of the list, you have Argentina and Germany. Both teams reached the world cup final, so it's no surprise that they have that many points.
And then you have teams like Wales and Romania that didn't even qualify for the world cup and yet have that many points just one year after the tournament. It's beyond ridiculous, a major flaw within the system. Romania's recent results: Bulgaria 0:0, Moldova 2:1, Faroe Islands 1:0 and North Ireland 0:0. Not impressive at all.

[El Turco]

i mean i bought into greece being in the first pot for some many years, even though their performance past ten years does not constitute pot 1, they usually at least do alright in qualification. but romania has been a non factor in football in over a decade and wales is halfway good first time in history this year. they must be playing friendlies against gibraltar every chance they get.

[No_20]

Would be banter if Germany, Turkey and Greece were drawn in the same group.

[El Turco]

adamthegreek is dead, lets move on

[J-Mezzy]

Adamthegreek is alive and kicking on the Orlando City thread

[El Turco]

rather be dead than watch mls

[J-Mezzy]

MLS>>>>>>Turk league
O City>>>>>>>>Gala

[Foye]

MLS>>>>>>Turk league
O City>>>>>>>>Gala

MLS are at least attracting real (ageing) stars. Turkish teams are trying to sell their fans over the hill players like Podolski or Quaresma lol.

And the worst thing is Turks actually buy into this haha.

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[Det the Threat]

Interesting draws and Bierhoff had a good input for the Germans.

Group A: Netherlands, France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Belarus, Luxemburg
Group B: Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Andorra
Group C: Germany, Czech Republik, Northern Ireland, Norway, Azerbaidschan, San Marino
Group D: Wales, Austria, Serbia, Ireland, Moldawia, Georgia,
Group E: Romania, Denmark, Poland, Montenegro, Armenia, Kazachstan
Group F: England, Slowakia, Scotland, Slowenia, Lithuania, Malta
Group G: Spain, Italy, Albania, Israel, Macedonia, Liechtenstein
Group H: Belgium, Bosnia, Greece, Estonia, Cyprus
Group I: Croatia, Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey, Finnland

Group A and G are pretty tough(up top) and Groups B, D, E and I are pretty wide open IMO.