2018 FIFA World Cup qualification


The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 remaining FIFA member associations were eligible to enter the qualifying process, and for the first time in World Cup history, all eligible national teams registered for the preliminary competition, but Zimbabwe and Indonesia were disqualified before playing their first matches. Bhutan, South Sudan, Gibraltar and Kosovo made their FIFA World Cup qualification debuts.
While the main qualifying draw took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, on 25 July 2015, qualification matches were played before that. The first, between Timor-Leste and Mongolia, began in Dili on 12 March 2015 as part of the AFC's qualification, with East Timorese player Chiquito do Carmo scoring the first goal in qualification. Matches were also played in CONCACAF prior to the main draw.

Qualified teams

TeamMethod of
qualification		Date of
qualification		Finals
appearance		Last
appearance		Consecutive
finals
appearances		Previous best
performance
Hosts[|2] December 201011th[|1]20142Fourth place 2
CONMEBOL Round Robin winners28 March 201721st201421Winners
AFC Third Round Group A winners12 June 20175th20142Group stage
AFC Third Round Group B winners31 August 20176th2014[|6]Round of 16
CONCACAF Fifth Round winners1 September 201716th20147Quarter-finals
UEFA Group H winners[|3] September 201713th20142Fourth place
AFC Third Round Group A runners-up[|5] September 201710th20149Fourth place
AFC Third Round Group B runners-up5 September 20175th20061Round of 16
UEFA Group C winners5 October 201719th3201417Winners
UEFA Group F winners5 October 201715th20146Winners
UEFA Group G winners6 October 201715th201411Winners
CAF Third Round Group B winners7 October 20176th20143Round of 16
CONCACAF Fifth Round runners-up7 October 20175th20142Quarter-finals
UEFA Group E winners8 October 20178th20061Third place
CAF Third Round Group E winners8 October 20173rd19901First round, Group stage
UEFA Group I winners9 October 20171st–1–
UEFA Group D winners9 October 201712th[|4]20101Fourth place 5
UEFA Group B winners10 October 20177th20145Third place
UEFA Group A winners10 October 201715th20146Winners
CONMEBOL Round Robin runners-up10 October 201713th20143Winners
CONMEBOL Round Robin third place10 October 201717th201412Winners
CONMEBOL Round Robin fourth place10 October 20176th20142Quarter-finals
CONCACAF Fifth Round third place10 October 20171st–1–
CAF Third Round Group D winners10 November 20172nd20021Quarter-finals
CAF Third Round Group C winners11 November 20175th19981Round of 16
CAF Third Round Group A winners11 November 20175th20061Group stage
UEFA Second Round winners12 November 201711th20144Quarter-finals
UEFA Second Round winners12 November 20175th20142Third place
UEFA Second Round winners13 November 201712th20061Runners-up
UEFA Second Round winners14 November 20175th20101Quarter-finals
CONCACAF v AFC play-off winners15 November 20175th20144Round of 16
OFC v CONMEBOL play-off winners15 November 20175th19821Quarter-finals, Second round 6

;Notes
The number of teams participating in the final tournament was 32. Even though the qualification process began in March 2015, the allocation of slots for each confederation was discussed by the FIFA Executive Committee on 30 May 2015 in Zürich after the FIFA Congress. It was decided that the same allocation as 2014 would be kept for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

Proposal for expansion

In October 2013, UEFA President Michel Platini proposed that the World Cup finals should be expanded from 32 to 40 teams starting from 2018. The format would have been the same, but in groups of five instead of four. This was in response to FIFA President Sepp Blatter's comments that Africa and Asia deserved more spots in the World Cup finals at the expense of European and South American teams. However, FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke said that expansion in 2018 would be "unlikely", while Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said that the country was "preparing on the basis that 32 teams will be taking part." Expansion was ultimately delayed until 10 January 2017, when the FIFA Council voted unanimously to expand to 48 teams starting in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Summary of qualification

While all FIFA members entered the tournament, not all competed. Zimbabwe were expelled from the competition on 12 March 2015 for their failure to pay former coach José Claudinei a severance fee and Indonesia were excluded from the qualifying competition following the suspension of their football association by FIFA on 30 May 2015. Kuwait had a number of their qualifiers cancelled for a similar suspension that began while their campaign was underway, which eventually resulted in their elimination. Brazil were the first team to achieve qualification for the tournament following their 3–0 victory over Paraguay and Uruguay's loss to Peru on 28 March 2017. Peru became the 32nd and final team to qualify when, 233 days after Brazil secured their place, they beat New Zealand 2–0 on aggregate in the OFC-CONMEBOL play-off.
Note: One team each from AFC, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, and OFC played in the inter-confederation play-offs, between 10–15 November 2017.
Note: UEFA total includes +1 for Russia as hosts.

Format

The formats of the qualifying competitions depended on each confederation . Each round might be played in either of the following formats:
In league format, the ranking of teams in each group is based on the following criteria :
  1. Points
  2. Overall goal difference
  3. Overall goals scored
  4. Points in matches between tied teams
  5. Goal difference in matches between tied teams
  6. Goals scored in matches between tied teams
  7. Away goals scored in matches between tied teams
  8. Fair play points
  9. * first yellow card: minus 1 point
  10. * indirect red card : minus 3 points
  11. * direct red card: minus 4 points
  12. * yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points
  13. Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee
In cases where teams finishing in the same position across different groups are compared for determining which teams advance to the next stage, the criteria is decided by the confederation and require the approval of FIFA.
In knockout format, the team that has the higher aggregate score over the two legs progresses to the next round. In the event that aggregate scores finish level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs progresses. If away goals are also equal, then thirty minutes of extra time are played, divided into two fifteen-minutes halves. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, i.e. if there are goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team qualifies by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by penalty shoot-out.

Confederation 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:
The draw for the third round was held on 12 April 2016 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Group A
Group B

Play-off for 5th place (fourth round)

The third-placed teams from each group in the third round played against each other home-and-away over two legs to determine which team advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

CAF

The CAF Executive Committee approved the format for the qualifiers of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 14 January 2015. However, on 9 July 2015 FIFA officially announced that only three rounds would be played instead of four.
Zimbabwe, even though they entered the competition, were expelled on 12 March 2015 for their failure to pay former coach José Claudinei a severance fee. Therefore, only 53 African teams were involved in the draw.

Final positions (third round)

The draw for the third round was held on 24 June 2016 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E

CONCACAF

An amendment to the qualification process for this tournament had been suggested, which would see the first three rounds played as knockout rounds, with both the fourth round and the final round played as group stages. The first round would be played during the FIFA international dates of 23–31 March 2015. CONCACAF announced the full details on 12 January 2015:
The draw for the fifth round was held on 8 July 2016 at the CONCACAF headquarters in Miami Beach, United States.

CONMEBOL

The qualification structure was the same as the previous five editions. The ten teams played in a league of home-and-away round-robin matches. The top four teams qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the fifth-placed team advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs, playing the winners of the Oceania Football Confederation qualifying competition.
Unlike previous qualifying tournaments where the fixtures were pre-determined, the fixtures were decided by a draw held on 25 July 2015, at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Final positions

OFC

The qualification structure was as follows:
The OFC had considered different proposals of the qualifying tournament. A previous proposal adopted by the OFC in October 2014 would have the eight teams divided into two groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches in the second round, followed by the top two teams of each group advancing to the third round to play in a single group of home-and-away round-robin matches to decide the winners of the 2016 OFC Nations Cup which would qualify to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and advance to the inter-confederation play-offs. However, it was later reported in April 2015 that the OFC had reversed its decision, and the 2016 OFC Nations Cup was played as a one-off tournament similar to the 2012 OFC Nations Cup.

Final positions (third round)

The draw for the third round was held on 8 July 2016 at the OFC headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.
Group A
Group B
Final

The draw for the final was held on 15 June 2017 at the OFC headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand. The winners of the final advanced to inter-confederation play-offs.

UEFA

Russia qualified automatically as hosts. The qualifying format for the remaining FIFA-affiliated UEFA teams was confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on 22–23 March 2015 in Vienna.
The draw for the first round was held on 25 July 2015, at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
;Ranking of runners-up
In deciding the eight best runners-up, the matches against the sixth-placed team in each group were discarded.

Play-offs (second round)

The draw for the second round was held on 17 October 2017 at the FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland. The winners of each tie qualified for the World Cup.

Inter-confederation play-offs

There were two inter-confederation playoffs to determine the final two qualification spots for the finals. The first legs were played on 10 and 11 November 2017, and the second legs were played on 15 November 2017.
The matchups were decided at the preliminary draw which was held on 25 July 2015, at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

CONCACAF v AFC

OFC v CONMEBOL

Top goalscorers

;16 goals
;15 goals
;11 goals
;10 goals
;9 goals
;8 goals
For each confederation and inter-confederation play-offs, see sections in each article: