2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

Tournament details
Dates	September 2016 – November 2017
Teams	52 (from 1 confederation)

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).

The qualifying format was confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on 22–23 March 2015 in Vienna.^[1][2]

Branding

UEFA unveiled the branding for the qualifiers on 15 April 2013. It shows a national jersey inside a heart, and represents Europe, honour and ambition. The same branding will also be used for the European qualifiers for the UEFA Euro 2016.^[3]

Format

The qualification structure is as follows:^[2]

• 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. Assuming the same number of slots allocated to UEFA as the previous World Cup (13 berths), 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.

Entrants

Apart from Russia, which qualify automatically as hosts, all remaining 52 FIFA-affiliated national teams from UEFA entered qualification.^[4]

Gibraltar, despite being a UEFA member since 2013, is not a FIFA member, and thus is not eligible to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. They have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to challenge FIFA's refusal to grant membership in order to enter World Cup qualifying.^[5]

Schedule

The exact dates have yet to be announced by UEFA, but qualifying matches will start in September 2016, following UEFA Euro 2016, and finish in November 2017.^[2]

The scheduling of qualifying matches, which will be centralized by UEFA, will follow the "Week of Football" concept first used for UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying:^[6]

• Matches take place from Thursday to Tuesday.
• Kick-off times are largely set at 18:00 and 20:45 CET on Saturdays and Sundays, and 20:45 CET on Thursdays, Fridays, Mondays and Tuesdays.
• On double-header matchweeks, teams play on Thursday and Sunday, or Friday and Monday, or Saturday and Tuesday.
• Matches in the same group are played on the same day.

Additionally, the hosts Russia, while having already qualified automatically, will be partnered with a five-team group, which enables them to play friendlies against these countries on their 'spare' dates (these friendlies do not count in the qualifying group standings), similar to UEFA Euro 2016 hosts France who play friendlies against teams in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group I.^[7]

Broadcasting

References

External links

• Official websites for 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, Qualifiers, FIFA.com