World Cup 2010 Qualifying Draw: Europe
Europe will have 13 slots for the 2010 World Cup. 53 teams will
compete for the slots from 9 groups.
PRELIMINARY COMPETITION
Stage One
All 53 PMAs (Participating Member Associations) will contest Stage
One. The stage consists of 8, round robin, home-and-away groups
of 6 teams as well as 1 round robin, home and-away group of 5 teams.
The 8 best group runners-up advance to Stage Two. The group winners
qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
Stage Two
The 8 best Stage One group runners-up will contest
Stage Two. The teams will be paired into 4 home-and-away series.
The winners qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
PRELIMINARY DRAW
Stage to be Drawn
Stage One will be drawn at the Preliminary Draw in Durban, South
Africa.
Draw Format
The 53 Stage One PMAs will be allocated 6 pots (5 pots of 9
teams, 1 pot of 8 teams) based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking
of November 2007. The top 9 teams will constitute Pot A; the
next 9 teams Pot B; and so on until Pot F which will contain
the 8 lowest ranked teams.
The teams will be drawn into 8 groups of 6 teams and 1 group
of 5 teams for Stage One.
The draw starts with Pot F and ends with Pot A. Each pot is
completely emptied before moving on to the next pot.
The teams in Pot F are placed in position 6 (of Groups 1 to
8); the teams in Pot E in position 5; the teams in Pot D in position
4; the teams in Pot C in position 3; the teams from Pot B in
position 2; and the teams from Pot A in position 1.
Groups are filled starting with Group 1 and ending with Group
9 (Group 8 in the case of Pot F).
European Zone
First stage
Begins in August 2008 and is played as a league system on
a home-and-away basis involving nine groups (eight groups
of six teams, and one group of five teams).
The nine group winners qualify for the 2010 FIFA World
Cup South Africa.
EUROPEAN DRAW |
| Group
1 |
Group
2 |
Group
3 |
Group
4 |
| Portugal |
Greece |
Czech Republic |
Germany |
| Sweden |
Israel |
Poland |
Russia |
| Denmark |
Switzerland |
Northern Ireland |
Finland |
| Hungary |
Moldova |
Slovakia |
Wales |
| Albania |
Latvia |
Slovenia |
Azerbaijan |
| Malta |
Luxembourg |
San Marino |
Liechtenstein |
| |
|
|
|
| Group
5 |
Group
6 |
Group
7 |
Group
8 |
| Spain |
Croatia |
France |
Italy |
| Turkey |
England |
Romania |
Bulgaria |
| Belgium |
Ukraine |
Serbia |
Republic of Ireland |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina |
Belarus |
Lithuania |
Cyprus |
| Armenia |
Kazakhstan |
Austria |
Georgia |
| Estonia |
Andorra |
Faroe Islands |
Montenegro |
| |
|
|
|
| Group
9 |
|
|
|
| Netherlands |
|
|
|
| Scotland |
|
|
|
| Norway |
|
|
|
| FYR Macedonia |
|
|
|
| Iceland |
|
|
|
|
Second stage
The best eight best runners-up* will be drawn against each
other for four play-off matches on a home-and-away basis.
The four play-off winners qualify for the 2010 FIFA World
Cup South Africa.
* determined on the basis of the number of points won whereby
the
bottom-placed team in the groups involving six teams is not
taken
into account
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