The winners of the World Cup will
qualify for the 2021 FIFA Confederations
Cup.
Qualification
For the first time in the history of the
FIFA World Cup, all eligible nations –
the 209 FIFA member associations minus
automatically qualified hosts Russia –
entered the qualifying process.
Zimbabwe and Indonesia were later
disqualified before playing their first
matches, while Gibraltar and Kosovo,
who joined FIFA on 13 May 2016 after
the qualifying draw but before European
qualifying had begun, also entered the
competition. Places in the tournament
were allocated to continental
confederations, with the allocation
unchanged from the 2014 World Cup. Of
the thirty-two nations qualified to play at
the 2018 FIFA World Cup, twenty
countries competed at the previous
edition of the tournament in 2014.
Both Iceland and Panama qualified for
the first time, with the former becoming
the smallest country in terms of
population to reach the World Cup.
Other teams returning after absences of
at least three tournaments include:
Egypt, returning to the finals after a 28-
year absence from their last appearance
in 1990;
Morocco, who last competed in 1998;
Peru, returning after a 36-year absence
(since 1982); and
Senegal, competing for the second time
after reaching the quarter-finals in 2002.
It is the first time three Nordic countries
(Denmark, Iceland and Sweden) and four
Arab nations (Egypt, Morocco, Saudi
Arabia and Tunisia) have qualified for
the World Cup.
Rankings of October 2017. Pot 1
contained the hosts Russia (who were
automatically assigned to Position A1)
and the best seven teams, Pot 2
contained the next best eight teams, and
so on for Pots 3 and 4.
This was different from previous draws,
where only Pot 1 was based on FIFA
Rankings while the remaining pots were
based on geographical considerations.
However, still retained was the fact that
teams from the same confederation were
not drawn against each other for the
group stage, except for UEFA where each
group contained up to two teams.
Notable countries that failed to qualify
include four-time champions Italy (for
the first time since 1958) and three-time
runner-up Netherlands. European Football
The Draw Women’s Champions League final,
Kiev Ukraine
The draw was held on 1 December 2017,
at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
The 32 teams were drawn into eight
groups of four.
For the draw, the teams were allocated to
four pots based on the FIFA World
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THURSDAY 24
SATURDAY 26
Champions League final, Kiev, Ukraine
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