Sports / Soccer
FIFA World Cup Draw is taking place in Brazil today
30 Jul 2011 at 17:36hrs | Views
The 2014 World Cup Preliminary Draw is taking place in Brazil today. The race to Brazil begins here as countries from Uefa, Concacaf, CAF, AFC and Oceania will learn their fate and prepare for a long, grueling two-year battle to qualify for football's greatest showpiece extravaganza.
Brazil, as host nation, are the only country who will not be participating in the qualifiers. Their confederation Conmebol, meanwhile, will not be involved in this preliminary draw process as there will only be one group as usual, consisting of just nine teams this time.
Concacaf has almost a similar process to Africa. Today's draw will yield six groups for a preliminary qualifying campaign featuring the likes of Barbados, Canada, Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago. The six group winners will then go on to compete in another round of qualifiers against the continental powerhouses such as Mexico, USA, Costa Rica, and Honduras.
For Africa, the preliminary draw today will produce a knock-out style competition where the lesser lights such as Burundi, Lesotho, Madagascar, Tanzania and 20 other nations will fight for just 12 spots to advance to a group qualifying campaign where they will face off against giants Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast.
The qualifying campaign has already begun in Asia, with countless teams already eliminated from the process. Only 20 nations remain including perennial heavyweights Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia, with the likes of Jordan, Qatar, Syria, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore all looking to cause an upset.
The qualifying programme has also already begun in Oceania and the solitary winner of that process will join the likes of New Zealand, Fiji and Tahiti in a qualifying phase consisting two groups of four.
That brings us to Europe. A total of 53 nations, including defending champions Spain, will be split into nine groups, with the winners of each section securing automatic qualification. Eight of the best runners-up will then face-off in a two legged play-off and the winners will qualify for the finals.
Brazil, as host nation, are the only country who will not be participating in the qualifiers. Their confederation Conmebol, meanwhile, will not be involved in this preliminary draw process as there will only be one group as usual, consisting of just nine teams this time.
Concacaf has almost a similar process to Africa. Today's draw will yield six groups for a preliminary qualifying campaign featuring the likes of Barbados, Canada, Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago. The six group winners will then go on to compete in another round of qualifiers against the continental powerhouses such as Mexico, USA, Costa Rica, and Honduras.
For Africa, the preliminary draw today will produce a knock-out style competition where the lesser lights such as Burundi, Lesotho, Madagascar, Tanzania and 20 other nations will fight for just 12 spots to advance to a group qualifying campaign where they will face off against giants Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast.
The qualifying campaign has already begun in Asia, with countless teams already eliminated from the process. Only 20 nations remain including perennial heavyweights Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia, with the likes of Jordan, Qatar, Syria, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore all looking to cause an upset.
The qualifying programme has also already begun in Oceania and the solitary winner of that process will join the likes of New Zealand, Fiji and Tahiti in a qualifying phase consisting two groups of four.
That brings us to Europe. A total of 53 nations, including defending champions Spain, will be split into nine groups, with the winners of each section securing automatic qualification. Eight of the best runners-up will then face-off in a two legged play-off and the winners will qualify for the finals.
Source - Byo24News
