(Newswire.net — May 21, 2021) — The FIFA World Cup is a competition hosted every four years in different countries of the world. Every four years, fans from all over the world gather at the stadiums and turn out for a competition that crowns the “FIFA Superstar”. The qualification process for the competition can be highly complicated but when you look at it from an international perspective, qualification is made much easier than at home or regional level. As opposed to a local football competition where qualification could be hit and miss, qualification at the top level requires a nation to qualify several games in a row and generally has the advantage of being played in front of a big crowd, a television audience, and international officials. In contrast, the national side in a local football competition is usually playing for a small percentage of the overall competition against other nations with very little chance of winning.
Cup Qualification
The format of qualification for the FIFA World Cup is an intricate process. As many as 32 teams will qualify from 5 different confederations, AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and the UEFA Champions League. The first two rounds of competition are the Round of Cups where the lowest-ranked teams from the league’s table complete. From these teams, four teams with the best record will progress to the next round. The next two rounds continue in a similar fashion, with the first two rounds being played in a one-way qualification system, whereby the teams are split up based on their finishing position in each group. From these two rounds, the teams with the most points will progress to the final stage of the competition, which includes the semi-finals and the finals which take place in four different venues.
The format for the FIFA World Cup qualification process is designed to prevent the possibility of politically motivated team selection. Each nation is allowed to choose three football teams that they feel will represent their country during the competition. The teams are decided via the FIFA World Cup Qualifying Pool which consists of the top four nations from each of the conferences. If a country qualifies directly from its conference then that country will automatically be given a spot in the final tournament. On the other hand, if a team finishes in fourth place or above that in the qualification pool but falls short of qualification for the semis or the playoffs then that team will have to go through a playoff before getting a chance to face off against the fourth-placed team from its conference.
The dates for the first matches will be determined by the FIFA World Cup Qualification Committee. The format for the first matches will also be published at that time. The teams have to book their accommodation a month in advance. The matches are scheduled for four weeks, which means that from the week commencing November till the end of February teams are free to play every other weekend.
Knock Out
The knockout stages will feature the best six teams from each conference. There will be another knock-out stage, which will see the other teams from the same conference advancing to the next round. As is usual, the teams that progress from the knockout stage to the last eight will be the teams with the most points. The draw for the first round of the competition is done through the rankings, which means that the team that finishes third in the rankings will be drawn against those teams that have finished second and third respectively.
The World Cup qualification procedures have changed slightly since the introduction of the new system that determines the qualification spots. For the qualification of the first two rounds only, one team from each conference will qualify. The first two rounds give an opportunity to the lowest-seeded teams to make it to the knock-outs stage. If they manage to get through this stage, they have a better chance of making it to the quarter-finals.
In the first round of matches, if a team does not make it to the final round, it will be given an extra chance in the Intercontinental playoff by overcoming a lower-ranked team or a team ranked within the same confederation as it is. The minimum number of points that a team must accumulate to qualify for the Intercontinental playoff will be five. In case there is a draw between these teams, the Intercontinental playoff will decide the number of teams that will progress to the final round. For the teams that are drawing against other teams, they will play a three games series and decide who will go home.