FIFA World Cup qualification

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FIFA World Cup qualification is the process a national association football team goes through to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Finals, or, more commonly known as the FIFA World Cup. FIFA World Cup is a global event, and qualification is used to reduce the large field of participants from about 200 to 32.

Qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Europe), and are organized by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides beforehand the number of spots awarded to each of the continental zones, based on the relative strength of the confederations' teams.

The hosts of the World Cup receive an automatic berth in the finals. Unlike many other sports, results of the previous World Cups or of the continental championships are not taken into account. Until 2002, the defending champions also received an automatic berth, but starting from the 2006 World Cup they also need to enter qualifying.

[edit] History

Over many years, the World Cup's qualification has evolved, from having no qualification at all in 1930, when the tournament was invitational and only 13 teams entered, to a two-year process in 2006 which started in 2003.

While the number of teams which qualified for the finals has increased steadily, from 16 between 1934 and 1978, to 24 between 1982 and 1994, and finally to 32 starting from 1998, the qualification format has been basically the same throughout the history of the World Cup. The teams have been grouped continentally, and they competed for a fixed number of berths, with one or two berths reserved for winners of the intercontinental play-offs.

[edit] Qualification spots by continent

The table below lists the numbers of spots allocated by FIFA for each continent in each tournament. Places in the intercontinental play-offs count as 0.5 spots. Numbers in bold represent the winners of the intercontinental play-offs. "+C" denotes an additional spot for defending champions. "+H" denotes an additional spot for hosts.

Places allocated for continents

Continental zone	1934 (16)	1938 (15)1	1950 (13)2	1954 (16)	1958 (16)	1962 (16)	1966 (16)	1970 (16)	1974 (16)	1978 (16)	1982 (24)	1986 (24)	1990 (24)	1994 (24)	1998 (32)	2002 (32)	2006 (32)6	2010 (32)
Africa	1	/	/	/	0.53	0.54	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	5	5	5	5 +H
Asia		1	12	1		0.54		1	1	1	2	2	2	2	3.5	2.5 +2H	4.5	4.5
Oceania	/	/	/	/	/	/						0.5	0.5	0.255	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Europe	12	111 +C+H	72 +C	11 +H	9.53 +C+H	94	9 +H	8 +C	8.5 +H	8.5 +C	13 +H	12.5 +C	13 +H	12 +C	14 +H	13.5 +C	13 +H	13
North and Central America and Caribbean	1	1	2	1	1	0.5	1	1 +H	1	1	2	1 +H	2	1.255 +H	3	3	3.5	3.5
South America	2	1	4 +H	1 +C	3	3.5 +C+H	3 +C	3	2.5 +C	2.5 +H	3 +C	4	2.5 +C	3.55	4 +C	4.5	4.5	4.5
Total	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	24	24	24	24	32	32	32	32

• ¹ In 1938, Austria withdrew after qualifying due to being annexed by Germany and were not replaced, so only 15 teams, 12 of them European, played in the finals.
• ² In 1950, India, Scotland and Turkey withdrew after qualifying and were not replaced, so only 13 teams, none of them Asian and 6 of them European, played in the finals.
• ³ Initially in 1958, Africa and Asia together were given 1 spot, while Europe was given 9 spots. However, after Israel won the African and Asian zone without playing any matches due to withdrawals of other teams, a special play-off was arranged between them and a European team (Wales). So in effect, Africa and Asia together were given 0.5 spots, while Europe was given 9.5 spots.
• ⁴ In 1962, Europe was given 8 automatic spots, plus 2 additional spots in the intercontinental play-offs, in effect giving them 9 spots. The two European teams played an African team and an Asian team respectively, and both European teams won. Therefore, 10 European teams played in the finals.
• ⁵ In 1994, there were two rounds of intercontinental play-offs. First, an Oceanian team played a team from North and Central America and Caribbean, and the winner then played a South American team.
• ⁶ From the 2006 qualifiers on, the defending champion no longer has an additional spot secured.

[edit] Qualification competition entrants over time

The number of teams entering the qualification process and the number of matches played have been steadily growing over time.

Number of teams entering qualification (including automatic qualifiers)

Continental zone	1934 (16)	1938 (15)	1950 (13)	1954 (16)	1958 (16)	1962 (16)	1966 (16)	1970 (16)	1974 (16)	1978 (16)	1982 (24)	1986 (24)	1990 (24)	1994 (24)	1998 (32)	2002 (32)	2006 (32)	2010 (32)
Africa	3	0	0	0	11	6	21	13	24	26	29	29	26	40	38	51	51	531
Asia		2	4	3		5		7	18	22	21	27	26	29	36	42	39	43
Oceania2	0	0	0	0	0	0						4	5	7	10	10	12	11
Europe	21	26	19	29	29	30	33	31	33	32	34	33	33	39	50	51	52	53
North and Central America and Caribbean	4	7	3	5	6	8	10	14	14	17	15	18	16	23	30	35	34	35
South America	4	2	8	6	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	10
Total entrants	32	37	34	45	55	56	74	75	99	107	109	121	116	147	174	199	198	205
Teams played3	27	21	19	33	46	49	51	68	90	95	103	110	103	130	168	193	194	199
Matches played	27	22	26	57	89	92	127	172	226	252	306	308	314	497	643	777	847
Goals scored	141	96	121	208	341	325	393	542	620	723	797	801	735	1446	1922	2452	2464
Average goals per match	5.22	4.36	4.65	3.65	3.83	3.53	3.09	3.15	2.74	2.87	2.60	2.60	2.34	2.91	2.99	3.16	2.91

• ¹ Although South Africa are automatically qualified for 2010 as hosts, they competed in the CAF qualifiers, becoming the first hosts to compete in World Cup qualifying since 1934. This is because the Confederation of African Football is using its 2010 World Cup qualifiers as the qualifying phase for the 2010 African Cup of Nations, a tournament for which South Africa had to qualify separately. South Africa were eliminated at the second of three rounds of CAF qualifying.
• ² Because the Oceania Football Confederation has used the World Cup Qualifiers as a phase of (or as the entire) Oceania Nations Cup, there is the possibility for non-FIFA countries to enter in matches that double as World Cup qualifiers. In the 2006 qualifiers, New Caledonia were included in the tournament although they were not FIFA members at the date of close of entries. They are, however, included in the 12 nations listed as they joined FIFA during the course of qualification, even though they had been technically eliminated from contention a few days earlier (a similar situation occurred in the entries for 2010, with Montenegro's entry accepted prior to their admission by FIFA). By contrast, Tuvalu have entered the 2007 South Pacific Games Football tournament, which double as qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup. They are not included in the 11 OFC entrants, although their results will have an impact on qualification.
• ³ "Teams played" is the total number of teams that played at least one qualifying match.

[edit] Current format

Currently, 32 places are available in the final tournament. One of them is reserved for the host nation, but if two or more nations host the competition jointly, each is awarded a place. The 2006 Finals were the first in which an automatic entry was not guaranteed to the previous champion; 2002 winner Brazil qualified for 2006 at the top of their group.

FIFA decides beforehand the number of spots awarded to each of the continental zones. For the 2010 World Cup, the following numbers will be used ^[1]:

• UEFA (Europe) - 13 berths
• CAF (Africa) - 5 berths, plus the host South Africa
• AFC (Asia) and OFC (Oceania) - 4 berths for AFC countries, with the fifth going to the winners of an AFC-OFC playoff
• CONMEBOL (South America) - 4 berths
• CONCACAF (North and Central America and Caribbean) - 3 berths
• 1 berth for the winners of CONMEBOL-CONCACAF playoff

These numbers vary slightly between tournaments (see above).

Qualification in all zones ends at approximately the same time, in September–November of the year preceding the finals.

The formats of the qualification tournaments differ between confederations and are outlined below.

[edit] Africa

The CAF qualification process began with a preliminary round (to narrow the field to 48 teams) prior to the main qualification draw in Durban in November 2007.

The qualifying competition for the 2010 World Cup is combined with the qualification process for the 2010 African Cup of Nations. As host of the World Cup, South Africa qualified automatically for the finals, but played in the qualifiers themselves (becoming the first hosts to do so since 1934 qualifying) to facilitate the African Cup of Nations version of the qualifiers.

The first group stage consisted of 12 groups of 4, with the group winners and 8 best runners-up advancing to the second group stage. That consists of 5 groups of 4 - with group winners advancing to the World Cup finals and top three nations in each group advancing to the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

[edit] Asia

Brunei, Laos and Philippines did not enter, with Bhutan given permission to enter after the official close of acceptances.

Qualifying has been substantially altered from the 2006 method, with two knock-out preliminary rounds to reduce the 43 entrants to 20, a first group stage with the top two sides from 5 groups of 4 advancing to a final group stage. The winners and runners-up of the two final groups of 5 advance to the World Cup finals with the two third-placed sides playing off for the right to play an Oceania side for a final World Cup spot.

[edit] Europe

The European qualification games started in August 2008. The 53 national teams will be divided into eight groups of six teams, and one group of five. The nine group winners will qualify directly and the best eight runners-up will play home and away play-off matches for the remaining four places.^[2]

[edit] North and Central America and Caribbean

The CONCACAF qualification process^[3] is identical to that for 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF). It consists of two preliminary rounds to reduce the 35 entrants to 24 and then 12 teams, followed by 3 semifinal groups of 4 teams with the top two in each group advancing to a final 6-team group.

The final round is often referred to as "the hexagonal" because of the number of teams involved.^[4]

The top three teams would qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup while the fourth placed side would enter a play-off with the fifth placed CONMEBOL nation.

[edit] Oceania

Qualification in Oceania is composed of two rounds. The first round took place at the 2007 South Pacific Games, with the top 3 teams advancing to a final round group stage with New Zealand. The winner of the final group stage (New Zealand) will then play against the winner of the playoff between the two 3rd-placed Asian sides for a spot in the finals. This is a major change from the initial FIFA information on Oceania's qualification ^[5] which suggested inclusion in the second Asian group stage.

[edit] South America

The CONMEBOL qualification process takes approximately 25 months. Ten participating teams play each other twice in a single group. The top 4 teams advance to the World Cup finals while the 5th placed team goes into a playoff with the fourth placed CONCACAF nation.

[edit] Intercontinental play-offs

Intercontinental play-offs are played as two home-and-away matches. The team that scores a greater aggregate number of goals qualifies. Away goals rule applies. If these rules fail to determine the winner, extra time and penalty shootouts are used.

[edit] Group tournaments rules

In all group tournaments, three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. FIFA has set the order of the tie-breakers for teams that finish level on points:

1. goal difference in all group matches
2. greater number of goals scored in all group matches

Where teams are still not able to be separated, the following tie-breakers are used:

1. greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams
2. goal difference in matches between the tied teams
3. greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams

Where teams are still equal, then a play-off on neutral ground, with extra time and penalties if necessary will be played if FIFA deems such a play-off able to be fitted within the coordinated international match calendar. If this is not deemed feasible, then the result will be determined by the drawing of lot.

Note that this order of tie-breaker application differs from that used in the qualification for the 2006 World Cup (although it was - where applicable - used in the 2006 finals themselves). If these rules had applied in 2006, then Nigeria would have qualified rather than Angola.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup

[edit] External links

• FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition Statistics (from FIFA.com)
• FIFA World Cup Preliminary History (from FIFA.com)
• FIFA World Cup 2010 Regulations

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