2014 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw Marks The Start Of Qualifying

There are 11 teams in Oceania and all are taking place in World Cup qualifying. The four bottom teams will compete in a round robin, with the group winner advancing to the second round of qualifying. They will join the top seven teams in qualifying, who are split into two pots. Two teams from each pot will be drawn into one of the two second round groups with the top two teams in the groups advancing to the final round. The winner of that final four-team group will then advance to the intercontinental playoff against the fourth place team in CONCACAF for a spot in the World Cup.

The preliminary draw determined the groups for the second round of qualifying. The draw for the schedule of the final round will be held at a later date.

Asia has a multi-round qualification process, making understanding it a little bit more complicated than some of the more straight forward qualification formats like those used by Europe and South America. The teams are in the third round of qualifying now and the 20 teams remaining are split into five groups of four. The top two in each group will advance to the fourth round, where teams will be in two groups of five with the top two teams qualifying for the World Cup. The two third place teams will play a two-legged tie with the winner getting the chance to play the fifth place team from South America in the intercontinental playoff for a spot in the World Cup.

The draw for the fourth round of qualifying will be held at a later date, but the preliminary draw determined the groups for the third round of qualifying. They are as follows:

Africa, whose confederation is known as CAF, is one of only two continents who does not have a playoff spot for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, along with UEFA (Europe). Five teams drop straight in to the World Cup. The first round consists of 12 home and away ties. Those 12 winners will be dropped into pots for the group stage. 10 winners will be in Pot 4 and two winners will be in Pot 3. After the first round drawing, teams were drawn from four pots into 10 round robin groups. The winner of each group enters into a home and away playoff. The winner of each of those playoffs qualifies for the World Cup.

Round 1

The final four teams in search of qualification for the 2014 World Cup will once again come from South America, Asia, CONCACAF and Oceania. The preliminary draw determined that the team that finishes in fifth place in South American qualifying will play the fifth place team from Asia in one intercontinental playoff for a final World Cup spot, while the fourth place team in CONCACAF will play the winner of Oceania.

That’s a favorable draw for CONCACAF, whose fourth place team will almost certainly play New Zealand. Regardless of who finishes in fourth, the CONCACAF team will almost certainly be favored to win their playoff. It’s even more favorable for South America though, who get to play the fifth place team in Asia. The last two times that has been Bahrain and both times Bahrain lost, as did Iran, who finished in fifth place in qualification for the 2002 World Cup.

A few World Cup qualifiers have already been played, but none of real importance. They’ve been played by the world’s minnows that won’t be around in any qualifying stage that anyone has heard of or bothers to watch. That makes tomorrow the first real important step in World Cup qualifying.

Each confederation gets to determine their own methods of qualifying so exactly how and why the draws tomorrow will be conducted will change depending on the confederation it is being drawn for. It may also not be the final draw as part of World Cup qualifying as some confederations have a further round to be drawn at a later date.