| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 4 September 2016 – 14 November 2017 |
| Teams | 54 (from 1 confederation) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 278 |
| Goals scored | 807 (2.9 per match) |
| Attendance | 5,866,771 (21,103 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Robert Lewandowski ( 16 goals ) |
International football contest
The european section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Russia, for national teams that are members of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Apart from Russia, who qualified automatically as hosts, a sum of 13 slots in the final tournament were available for UEFA teams. [ 1 ] The qualifying format was confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on 22–23 March 2015 in Vienna. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The qualification process started on 4 September 2016, about two months after UEFA Euro 2016, and ended on 14 November 2017. Belgium, England, France, Germany, Iceland ( for the first prison term ), Poland, Portugal, Serbia, and Spain qualified in the first beat by winning their groups. Croatia, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland qualified by winning their playoffs. Four-time champions Italy did not qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, missing out on reservation for the first time since 1958 after losing in the playoffs to Sweden, [ 4 ] while the three-time FIFA World Cup runner-up Netherlands did not qualify for the tournament for the first time since 2002 after finishing third base in 2014, [ 5 ] and second in 2010. Iceland, with 335,000 inhabitants, became the smallest country ever to qualify for a FIFA World Cup. [ 6 ]
Entrants [edit ]
apart from Russia, which qualified mechanically as hosts, all remaining 52 FIFA-affiliated national teams from UEFA at the registration deadline of January 2015 entered reservation. [ 7 ] Gibraltar, despite being a UEFA member since 2013, was not a FIFA extremity at the time of the adjustment deadline, and therefore was not eligible to enter reservation for the FIFA World Cup. They appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to challenge FIFA ‘s refusal to grant membership in order to enter World Cup qualifying. [ 8 ] In May 2016, the CAS found in Gibraltar ‘s favor and ordered that FIFA put Gibraltar forward for FIFA membership, which would permit Gibraltar to take part in the qualifiers if membership was granted. [ 9 ] Kosovo became a UEFA member on 3 May 2016, and together with Gibraltar, applied for membership in the FIFA Congress in 12–13 May 2016. FIFA confirmed that in the case both associations succeeded in becoming a member, they would be entitled to participate in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, with UEFA tasked to integrate them into the rival. [ 10 ] On 13 May 2016, both Kosovo and Gibraltar were officially admitted as FIFA members, thus allowing them to compete. [ 11 ] UEFA created a job storm to discuss how to integrate the two teams into the contest, [ 12 ] and on 9 June 2016 UEFA announced that Kosovo would be assigned to Group I, to avoid meet Bosnia and Herzegovina for security reasons, and Gibraltar would play in Group H. [ 13 ] [ 14 ]
format [edit ]
The qualification structure was as follows : [ 3 ] [ 15 ]
- First round (group stage): The 54 teams were divided into nine groups of six teams each to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winners of each group qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the eight best runners-up advanced to the second round (play-offs).
- Second round (play-offs): The eight best runners-up from the first round played against one other team over two legs, home and away. The draw for these matches was held on 17 October 2017. The first legs were played on 9–11 November, and the second legs were played on 12–14 November 2017. The winners of each tie qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Qualifying matches started in September 2016, following UEFA Euro 2016, and finished in November 2017. [ 3 ] [ 16 ]
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The scheduling of qualifying matches, which were centralised by UEFA, followed the “ Week of Football ” concept first used for UEFA Euro 2016 passing : [ 17 ]
- Matches take place from Thursday to Tuesday.
- Kick-off times are largely set at 18:00 and 20:45 CET/CEST on Saturdays and Sundays, and 20:45 CET/CEST 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.
The repair tilt was confirmed by UEFA on 26 July 2015, the day following the draw. [ 16 ] [ 18 ]
first attack [edit ]
Seeding [edit ]
The draw for the first gear beat ( group stage ) occurred as separate of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK ( UTC+3 ), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia. [ 16 ] [ 19 ] The seed was based on the July 2015 FIFA World Rankings. [ 20 ] The 52 teams were seeded into six pots :
- Pot 1 contains the teams ranked 1–9.
- Pot 2 contains the teams ranked 10–18.
- Pot 3 contains the teams ranked 19–27.
- Pot 4 contains the teams ranked 28–36.
- Pot 5 contains the teams ranked 37–45.
- Pot 6 contains the teams ranked 46–52.
Each six-team group contained one team from each of the six pots, while each five-team group contained one team from each of the first five pots. [ 16 ] due to the centralization of media rights for european qualifiers, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands were all drawn into six-team groups. Netherlands and France were drawn together in Group A, and Spain and Italy were drawn together in Group G. [ 16 ] In consideration of the political relations between between Armenia and Azerbaijan, UEFA requested that FIFA maintain the current UEFA policy not to draw these teams into the like qualification groups ( since the two teams were in the same seed pot, this would not have happened careless of the request ). [ 16 ] Teams in bold finally qualified for the concluding tournament, teams in bold italic qualified for the final tournament through the play-offs, and teams in italic participated in the play-offs but did not qualify for the concluding tournament .
The football associations of Gibraltar and Kosovo became members of FIFA following the draw but before any games had been played. As both associations became eligible to compete in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, on 9 June 2016 it was decided Gibraltar would join Group H and Kosovo would join Group I, the only groups with five teams. In addition, it was decided that Kosovo could not play against Bosnia and Herzegovina or Serbia for security reasons, due to the disputed political status of Kosovo. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 21 ] Gibraltar and Spain had previously been kept offprint from each other in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying as a leave of the quarrel status of Gibraltar. [ 22 ] All nine groups then had six teams. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] The hosts Russia were to be partnered with five-team Group H for friendlies. [ 23 ] however, with the entree of Kosovo and Gibraltar, all groups were filled to contain six teams and the Russia friendlies against Group H teams were cancelled. UEFA vice-president Hryhoriy Surkis said that the UEFA management would deal with the exit of finding opponents for Russia to play friendlies. [ 24 ]
compendious [edit ]
Winner of each group qualified directly for the Winner of each group qualified directly for the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Read more: Wikipedia
early teams were eliminated after the first gear round
Groups [edit ]
| 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tiebreakers |
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In league format, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7):[25]
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Group A [edit ]
Group B [edit ]
Group C [edit ]
Group D [edit ]
Group E [edit ]
Group F [edit ]
Group G [edit ]
Group H [edit ]
Group I [edit ]
Ranking of second-placed teams [edit ]
When the draw was made groups H and I had one team fewer than the other groups so it was decided that matches against the last-placed team in each of the six-team groups would not be included in the rate of the second-placed teams. evening after the admission of Kosovo and Gibraltar, and with all groups now containing six teams, this rule did not change and matches against the sixth-placed team in all groups were still discarded. [ 26 ] As a solution, merely eight matches played by each team were counted in the second-placed postpone. The eight best runner-up were determined by the follow parameters, in this orderliness : [ 27 ]
- Highest number of points
- Goal difference
- Highest number of goals scored
- Fair play points
- Drawing of lots
Rules for classification: Counting only matches against teams ranked first to fifth in the group, 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Fair play points; 5) Drawing of lots.[28][27] generator : FIFA Rules for categorization : Counting merely matches against teams ranked first to fifth in the group, 1 ) Points ; 2 ) Goal difference ; 3 ) Goals scored ; 4 ) Fair play points ; 5 ) guide of lots .
second round [edit ]
The eight best group runner-up contested the second orotund, where they were paired into four two-legged ( home-and-away ) fixtures .
Seeding and draw [edit ]
The absorb for the second base attack ( play-offs ) was held on 17 October 2017, 14:00 CEST ( UTC+2 ), at the FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland. [ 29 ] The eight teams were seeded by FIFA World Rankings published on 16 October 2017, rather than qualifying phonograph record, with the top four teams in Pot 1, and the remaining four teams in Pot 2. It so happened that the top four teams by qualifying record were the lapp as the top four by FIFA World Ranking. Teams from Pot 1 played teams from Pot 2 on a home and away footing, with the order of legs decided by draw .
Matches [edit ]
The first legs were played on 9–11 November, and the second legs were played on 12–14 November 2017. The winners of each bind qualified for the World Cup .
Qualified teams [edit ]
The following 14 teams from UEFA qualified for the final tournament .
top goalscorers [edit ]
- 16 goals
- 15 goals
- 11 goals
- 9 goals
- 8 goals
- 7 goals
- 6 goals
Branding [edit ]
UEFA unveiled the brand for the qualifiers on 15 April 2013. It shows a national new jersey inside a center, and represents Europe, honor and ambition. The lapp post was besides used for the european qualifiers for the UEFA Euro 2016. [ 30 ]