The road to 2018 FIFA World Cup will be set out for five of the six confederations on Saturday, 25 July when the Preliminary Draw takes place at the Konstantin Palace in St. Petersburg.
All draw procedures are subject to approval by the FIFA Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup at its meeting on 24 July, 2015 in St. Petersburg.
Fifa.com Thursday outlined the procedures of how African teams for the World Cup will emerge, saying “with Zimbabwe having been expelled from the preliminary competition by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, Africa sees 53 of its 54 member associations involved in the Preliminary Draw.
“For Round One, the 26 lowest-ranked participating associations from the region will contest Round One. Those teams will be allocated to two pots of 13 teams based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of July 2015; the 13 highest ranked teams and the 13 lowest ranked teams.
They will be then be drawn against each other to play over two legs on a home and away basis between 5 and 13 October 2015.
“The winners of those matches advance to Round Two, where they will join the remaining 27 highest-ranked teams from the region and face off in another two-legged play off, home and away.
“The winners of these games then move into Africa’s final qualification round where five groups of four teams will meet both home and away. The winner of each group will qualify for Russia 2018.”
At 18.00 local time (17.00 CET) on 25 July, the Draw Show will begin and the eyes of the footballing world will focus on Russia and the fates of the teams from Africa and other confederations hoping to qualify for the finals in less than three years’ time. …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
