2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

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2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
Tournament details
Dates	12 March 2015 – November 2017
Teams	208 (from 6 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	11
Goals scored	24 (2.18 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Chencho Gyeltshen Chan Vathanaka Sunil Chhetri Quito (2 goals each)
← 2014 2022 →

The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process will decide 31 of the 32 teams which will play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with the hosts Russia qualifying automatically. All 208 remaining FIFA member associations are eligible to enter the qualifying process. For the first time in World Cup history, all national teams registered for the preliminary competition.^[1] Not all may compete, as Zimbabwe were expelled from the competition on 12 March 2015 due to their failure to pay former coach José Claudinei a severance fee,^[2] a decision that the Zimbabwe Football Association said they would appeal.^[3] Bhutan have made their FIFA World Cup qualification debut and they will be joined by South Sudan once that nation plays its first match.^[4]
While the main qualifying draw will take place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg on 25 July 2015,^[5]^[6] a number of qualification matches will be played before that.^[7] The first began in Dili, Timor-Leste on 12 March as part of the AFC's qualification,^[8] with Timorese player Chiquito do Carmo scoring the first goal of qualification. Matches will also be played in CONCACAF prior to the main draw.

Qualified teams

Country qualified for World Cup

Country may qualify

Country failed to qualify with games still to play

Country failed to qualify

Country did not enter World Cup or suspended by FIFA

Country not a FIFA member

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA ranking at start of event
Russia	Host	2 December 2010	11th^[9]	2014	Fourth place (1966)^[10]

Qualification process

Summary of qualification

Note: The number of teams participating in the main tournament is 32. The division over the continents, however, as of March 2015 has not been announced. The list below is based on the procedure of the 2010 and 2014 tournaments.

Confederation	Teams started	Teams that have qualified	Teams that can still qualify	Teams that have been eliminated	Remaining places in finals	Total places in finals	Qualifying start date	Qualifying end date

AFC	46	0	41	5	4 or 5	4 or 5	12 March 2015	10 October 2017
CAF	54	0	53	1	5	5	5 October 2015	TBC
CONCACAF	35	0	35	0	3 or 4	3 or 4	23 March 2015	10 October 2017
CONMEBOL	10	0	10	0	4 or 5	4 or 5	5 October 2015	2017
OFC	11	0	11	0	0 or 1	0 or 1	31 August 2015	15 November 2016
UEFA	52+1	0+1	52	0	13	13+1	September 2016	November 2017
Total	208+1	0+1	202	6	31	31+1	12 March 2015	TBC

Confederation qualification

AFC

Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

The AFC Executive Committee meeting on 16 April 2014 approved the proposal to merge the preliminary qualification rounds of the FIFA World Cup and the AFC Asian Cup, which will be expanded to 24 teams starting in 2019:^[11]

First round: A total of 12 teams (teams ranked 35–46) will play home-and-away over two legs.
Second round: A total of 40 teams (teams ranked 1–34 and six first round winners) will be divided into eight groups of five to play home-and-away round-robin matches, where the eight group winners and the four best group runners-up will advance to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualification as well as qualify for the AFC Asian Cup finals.
Third round: The 12 teams (an increase from 10 for 2014) will be divided into two groups of six to play home-and-away round-robin matches. Assuming the same number of slots allocated to the AFC as the previous World Cup (4.5 berths), the top two teams of each group will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the two third-placed teams will advance to the fourth round.
Fourth round (if required, dependent upon the allocation of places to the AFC at the 2018 FIFA World Cup): The two third-placed teams in each group from the third round will play against each other home-and-away over two legs to determine which team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.

The next best 24 teams eliminated from World Cup qualification in the second round will be divided into six groups of four and compete for the remaining slots of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup (the third round of 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification will be separate from the third round of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification).
The draw for the first round was held on 10 February 2015, 15:30 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[12] The draw for the second round will be held on 14 April 2015, 17:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[13]

Current stage (First round)

Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC First Round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
India	2–0	Nepal	2–0	0–0
Yemen		Pakistan	3–1	23 Mar
Timor-Leste	5–1	Mongolia	4–1	1–0
Cambodia	4–1	Macau	3–0	1–1
Chinese Taipei	2–1	Brunei	0–1	2–0
Sri Lanka	1–3	Bhutan	0–1	1–2

CAF

Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)

The CAF Executive Committee approved the format for the qualifiers of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 14 January 2015:^[14]

First round, Second round, and Third round: The competing teams will go through three preliminary rounds to reduce the number of teams to 20.
Fourth round: The 20 teams will be divided into five groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches. Assuming the same number of slots allocated to the CAF as the previous World Cup (5 berths), the top team of each group will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

CONCACAF

Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)

An amendment to the qualification process for this tournament had been suggested,^[15] which would see the first three rounds played as knockout rounds, with both the fourth round and the final round (referred to as 'The Hex') played as group stages. The first round would be played during the FIFA international dates of 23-31 March 2015.^[16] CONCACAF announced the full details on 12 January 2015:^[17]^[18]

First round: A total of 14 teams (teams ranked 22–35) will play home-and-away over two legs.
Second round: A total of 20 teams (teams ranked 9–21 and seven first round winners) will play home-and-away over two legs.
Third round: A total of 12 teams (teams ranked 7–8 and ten second round winners) will play home-and-away over two legs.
Fourth round: A total of 12 teams (teams ranked 1–6 and six third round winners) will be divided into three groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches, where the three group winners and the three group runners-up will advance to the fifth round.
Fifth round: The six teams will play home-and-away round-robin matches in one single group (often referred to as the "Hexagonal"). Assuming the same number of slots allocated to CONCACAF as the previous World Cup (3.5 berths), the top three teams will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the fourth-placed team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.

The draw for the first and second round was held on 15 January 2015, 19:40 EST (UTC−5), at the W Hotel at Miami Beach, Florida, United States.^[19]

Current stage (First round)

Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF First Round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bahamas	1	Bermuda	25 Mar	29 Mar
British Virgin Islands	2	Dominica	26 Mar	29 Mar
Barbados	3	U.S. Virgin Islands	22 Mar	26 Mar
Saint Kitts and Nevis	4^[20]	Turks and Caicos Islands	23 Mar	26 Mar
Nicaragua	5	Anguilla	23 Mar	29 Mar
Belize	6	Cayman Islands	25 Mar	29 Mar
Curaçao	7	Montserrat	27 Mar	31 Mar

Next stage (Second round)

Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF Second Round

Team 1	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Guyana	8 Jun	16 Jun
Antigua and Barbuda	Saint Lucia	8 Jun	16 Jun
Puerto Rico	Grenada	8 Jun	16 Jun
Canada	Winner 2 (British Virgin Islands or Dominica)	8 Jun	16 Jun
Dominican Republic	Winner 6 (Belize or Cayman Islands)	8 Jun	16 Jun
Guatemala	Winner 1 (Bahamas or Bermuda)	8 Jun	16 Jun
Aruba	Winner 3 (Barbados or U.S. Virgin Islands)	8 Jun	16 Jun
Winner 4 (Turks and Caicos Islands or Saint Kitts and Nevis)	El Salvador	8 Jun	16 Jun
Winner 7 (Curaçao or Montserrat)	Cuba	8 Jun	16 Jun
Winner 5 (Nicaragua or Anguilla)	Suriname	8 Jun	16 Jun

CONMEBOL

Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)

All teams will play in a league of home-and-away round-robin matches. Assuming the same number of slots allocated to CONMEBOL as the previous World Cup (4.5 berths), the top four teams will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the fifth-placed team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Unlike previous qualifying tournaments where the fixtures were pre-determined, the fixtures will be decided by a draw to be held on 25 July 2015, at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.^[21]

Current stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Argentina	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Bolivia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Brazil	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Chile	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Colombia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Ecuador	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	Paraguay	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	Peru	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Uruguay	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	Venezuela	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played on 5 October 2015. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: 1) points in all matches; 2) goal difference in all matches; 3) number of goals scored in all matches.

OFC

Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)

The OFC Executive Committee meetings on 29 March and 20 October 2014 approved the format of the 2016 OFC Nations Cup, which will double as the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament:^[22]

First round: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa, and Tonga will play a round-robin tournament at a single venue. The winner will advance to the second round.
Second round: The first round winner will join the seven remaining teams (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, and Vanuatu), and the eight teams will be drawn into two groups of four. Each group will be played on a round-robin home-and-away basis. The group winners and runners-up will advance to the third round.
Third round: The four teams will play in a group on a round-robin home-and-away basis. The winner will qualify for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia, and advance to the inter-confederation play-offs in November 2017 where they will play a team from another confederation for a place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals.^[23]

Current stage (First round)

Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – OFC First Round

Pos	Team	Group stage result
1	American Samoa	Advance to 2016 OFC Nations Cup/Second round
2	Cook Islands
3	Samoa
4	Tonga

First match(es) will be played on 31 August 2015. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: 1) points in all matches; 2) goal difference in all matches; 3) number of goals scored in all matches.

UEFA

Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

Russia have qualified automatically as hosts. The qualifying format for the remaining 52 FIFA-affiliated UEFA teams has yet to be announced.

Inter-confederation play-offs

Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (inter-confederation play-offs)

If there are inter-confederation play-offs to determine any qualification spots to the finals, they are scheduled to be played between 6–14 November 2017.^[24]

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Contents

Qualified teams