FIFA World Cup qualification

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FIFA World Cup qualification is the process a national football (soccer) 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 (and, some may argue, political considerations).

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.

1 History
2 Current format
3 Notes and references
4 See also
5 External links

[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.

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 on bold represent the winners of the intercontinental play-offs. "T" denotes an additional spot for title-holders. "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)	2010 (32)
Africa	1	/	/	/	0.5^[3]	0.5^[4]	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	5	5	5	5 H
Asia	1	1	1^[2]	1	0.5^[3]	0.5^[4]		1	1	1	2	2	2	2	3.5	2.5 2H	4.5	4.5
Oceania	/	/	/	/	/	/		1	1	1	2	0.5	0.5	0.25^[5]	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Europe	12	11^[1] T H	7^[2] T	11 H	9.5^[3] T H	9^[4]	9 H	8 T	8.5 H	8.5 T	13 H	12.5 T	13 H	12 T	14 H	13.5 T	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	1.25^[5] H	3	3	3.5	3.5
South America	2	1	4 H	1 T	3	3.5 T H	3 T	3	2.5 T	2.5 H	3 T	4	2.5 T	3.5^[5]	4 T	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

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
Asia	3	2	4	3	11	5		7	18	22	21	27	26	29	36	42	39
Oceania	0	0	0	0	0	0		7	18	22	21	4	5	7	10	10	12
Europe	21	26	19	29	29	30	33	31	33	32	34	33	33	39	50	51	52
North and Central America and Caribbean	4	7	3	5	6	8	10	14	14	17	15	18	16	23	30	35	34
South America	4	2	8	6	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10
Total entrants	32	37	34	45	55	56	74	75	99	107	109	121	116	147	174	199	198	202
Teams played	27	21	19	33	46	49	51	68	90	95	103	110	103	130	168	193	194
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

Note: "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 ^[6]:

UEFA (Europe) - 13 berths
CAF (Africa) - 5 berths, plus the host South Africa
CONMEBOL (South America) - 4 berths
AFC (Asia) and OFC (Oceania) - 5 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

In Africa, there are two rounds of competition. In the First Round, CAF members are paired to play home-and-away matches. The winners of each pair qualify for the Second Round. The participants of the previous World Cup Finals and a few nations highest in the FIFA World Rankings are given byes to the Second Round.

In the Second Round, the remaining teams are drawn into five groups of six. The winners of each group qualify for the final tournament. Qualification for the African Nations Cup is also based on the results of the Second Round.

The whole process of qualification takes approximately two years.

[edit] Asia

Asia has yet to determine the qualifying procedure for the 2010 World Cup. However, one team from Oceania will compete in the final round of Asian qualifying.

[edit] Europe

The European qualification games will start in September 2008. The exact qualification process is not yet known.

[edit] North and Central America and Caribbean

The CONCACAF qualification process is not yet known.

[edit] Oceania

Qualification in Oceania is composed of two rounds. The first round will take place at the 2007 South Pacific Games, where the top 3 teams will advance to a final round group stage with New Zealand. The winning team will then secure a berth in Asian qualifying. ^[7]

[edit] South America

The simplest system is used by CONMEBOL. Ten participating teams play each other twice in a single group.

The qualification process takes about 25 months. The top 4 teams advance to the World Cup finals while the 5th place team goes into a playoff.

[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 regularized the list of the tie-breakers for teams that finish level on points:

greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams
goal difference in matches between the tied teams
greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams
goal difference in all group matches
greater number of goals scored in all group matches
a play-off on neutral ground, with extra time and penalties if necessary

[edit] Notes and references

^ ^a ^b In 1938, Austria withdrew after qualifying and were not replaced, so only 15 teams, 12 of them European, played in the finals.
^ ^a ^b ^c 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.
^ ^a ^b 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.
^ ^a ^b ^c 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.
^ ^a ^b ^c In 1994, there were two rounds of intercontinental play-offs. First, an Oceanian team played a team from North and Cental America and Caribbean, and the winner then played a South American team.
^ Clear declaration to defend the autonomy of sport, FIFA Official site. Retrieved on December 20, 2006
^ OFC 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP ROUTE VIA ASIA, Oceania Football Confederation Official site. Retrieved on December 20, 2006

[edit] See also

National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup

[edit] External links

FIFA World Cup Preliminary History (from FIFA.com)

International football

v • d • e

Asia: AFC – Asian Cup

Africa: CAF – African Cup of Nations

North America: CONCACAF – Gold Cup

South America: CONMEBOL – Copa América

Oceania: OFC – Nations Cup

Europe: UEFA – European Championship

Non-FIFA: NF-Board – VIVA World Cup

FIFA World Cup

v • d • e

Awards	Goalscorers	History
Hosts	Mascots	Qualification
Records	Team apps	Trophy

FIFA Women's World Cup

China 1991 | Sweden 1995 | USA 1999 | USA 2003 | China 2007 | 2011

FIFA World Cup qualification
Italy 1934 \| France 1938 \| Brazil 1950 \| Switzerland 1954 \| Sweden 1958 \| Chile 1962 \| England 1966 \| Mexico 1970 \| West Germany 1974 \| Argentina 1978 \| Spain 1982 \| Mexico 1986 \| Italy 1990 \| USA 1994 \| France 1998 \| Korea/Japan 2002 \| Germany 2006 \| South Africa 2010

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Category: FIFA World Cup qualification