World Cup Draw today

[Vanhalen]

A total of 170 countries will go into Sunday's draw in Durban for the 2010 World Cup preliminary competition.

 

The teams are chasing 31 places at the World Cup finals, with only hosts South Africa guaranteed a spot at the tournament in 30 months' time.

 

Even 2006 champions Italy must qualify to defend their title.

 

There will be 861 qualifying matches to determine the line-up for the 2010 World Cup finals, lasting more than 800 days and finishing in November 2009.

 

A total of 205 countries entered the preliminaries but five have since withdrawn.

 

A further 30 were eliminated in pre-preliminary matches played in Africa, Asia and Oceania.

 

The draw comes four months after the 2010 preliminary campaign kicked off in Samoa in August.

 

Italy won the 2006 World Cup

Holders Italy will be chasing one of 13 European spots at the finals

The event will see Asia's groups drawn first, followed by those in the Concacaf region, made up of countries in central and north America and the Caribbean.

 

About an hour into the draw, Europe will be put in the spotlight when its 53 teams are divided into nine qualifying groups - eight of six teams and one of five.

 

The winners of each European group will qualify for the World Cup finals and the best eight runners-up play off for four more qualifying berths.

 

The evening rounds off with the draw for the African Zone, where 48 teams will be placed into 12 groups of four teams.

 

There is no draw for South America and the Oceania region, who have already started their preliminary competition.

 

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Europe has the biggest representation at the World Cup finals with 13 places

 

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Africa will have three rounds of qualification, the first of which is already completed.

 

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Asia has five stages of qualification, two of which have been completed

 

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All Concacaf's 35 members have entered four stages of qualifying, the first two of which will be played on a knockout basis.

 

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The 10 South American countries began their super group in October.

 

# Oceania is already deep into its qualifying campaign with a group competition involving Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand and Vanuatu.

 

Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke said the seeding for qualifying groups in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Concacaf region had been determined.

 

However, he added that it needed to be ratified by the competition's organising committee, which meets in Durban on Saturday, before being announced.

 

The Fifa rankings are being used to determine the seeds for the various continental qualification groups.

 

Seedings for European draw:

 

Pot 1

Italy, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Croatia, Greece.

 

Pot 2

ENGLAND, Romania, SCOTLAND, Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, Poland, Sweden, Israel.

 

Pot 3

Norway, Ukraine, Serbia, Denmark, NORTHERN IRELAND, Republic of Ireland, Finland, Switzerland, Belgium.

 

Pot 4

Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Moldova, WALES, FYR Macedonia, Belarus, Lithuania, Cyprus.

 

Pot 5

Georgia, Albania, Slovenia, Latvia, Iceland, Armenia, Austria, Kazakhastan, Azerbaijan.

 

Pot 6

Liechenstein, Estonia, Malta, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Andorra, Faroe Islands, San Marino.

[Vanhalen]

Asian Draw

 

Australia are drawn in Group 1 with

Iraq,

Qatar

and China.

 

Group 2:

Oman,

Thailand,

Bahrain,

Japan.

 

Group 3:

North Korea,

Jordan,

Turkmenistan,

South Korea.

 

Group 4:

Lebanon,

Singapore,

Uzbekistan,

Saudi Arabia.

 

Group 5:

Syria,

United Arab Emirates,

Kuwait,

Iran.

[Vanhalen]

North American and South American groups next

[Vanhalen]

Group 1A:

USA v the winner of Dominican Republic v Barbados.

Group 1B:

Guatemala will play the winner of Turks and Caicos Islands v St Lucia.

Group 1C:

Trinidad and Tobago will play the winners of Bermuda v Caymen Islands.

Group 1D:

Cuba will play the winner of Aruba v Antigua and Barbuda.

[Vanhalen]

Group 2A:

Mexico play the winner of Belize v St Kitts and St Nevis.

Group 2B:

Jamaica play the winner of Bahamas v British Virgin Islands.

Group 2C:

Honduras play the winner of Dominican Republic v Puerto Rica.

Group 2D:

The winner of Canada v St Vincent and the Grenadines gets a bye.

[Vanhalen]

Group 3A:

Costa Rica plays US Virgin Islands or Grenada.

Group 3B:

Guyana plays Suriname or Montserrat.

Group 3C:

Panama plays El Salvador or Anguilla.

Group 3D:

The winner of Nicaragua v Netherlands Antilles gets a bye

[Vanhalen]

Europe draw next, come on England!

[Vanhalen]

Fucking hell, Croatia Again!

 

Group 1 Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania, Malta

 

Group 2 Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg

 

Group 3 Czech Republic, Poland, NORTHERN IRELAND, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino

 

Group 4 Germany, Russia, Finland, WALES, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein

 

Group 5 Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia

 

Group 6 Croatia, ENGLAND, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra

 

Group 7 France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands

 

Group 8 Italy, Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro

 

Group 9 Holland, SCOTLAND, Norway, FYR Macedonia, Iceland

[Kurt Angle Mark]

Here is how the North and Central American draw works

 

GROUP 1

USA vs Dominica/Barbados

Guatamala vs Turks/St Lucia

Trinidad vs Bermuda/Cayman Islands

Cuba vs Aruba/Antigua

 

GROUP 2

Mexico vs St Kitts/Belize

Jamaica vs Bahamas/British Virgin Islands

Honduras vs Dominican Rep/Puerto Rico

Canada vs St Vincent

 

GROUP 3

Costa Rica vs US Virgin Islands/Grenada

Guyana vs Suriname/Montserrat

Panama vs El Salvidor/Anguilla

Haiti vs Nicaragua/Netherland Antilles

 

Group 2 is f'n tough (for Concacaf anyway) and Group 3 is utter crap

[CanadianChris]

I was all set to be excited about drawing St. Vincent and the Grenadines, until I found out they're 77th in the FIFA rankings. Not good.

[Guest]

I love our draw.

 

Canada drew the worst of all possible teams in the pots to draw from.

[Vanhalen]

Can't forget the African draw

 

Group 1: Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Tanzania, Mauritius.

Group 2: Guinea, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Kenya.

Group 3: Angola, Benin, Uganda, Niger.

Group 4: Nigeria, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone.

Group 5: Ghana, Libya, Gabon, Lesotho.

Group 6: Liberia, Algeria, Senegal, Gambia.

Group 7: Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Botswana, Madagascar.

Group 8: Morocco, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Mauritania.

Group 9: Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Burundi, Seychelles.

Group 10: Mali, Congo, Sudan, Chad.

Group 11: Togo, Eritrea, Zambia, Swaziland.

Group 12: Egypt, DR Congo, Malawi, Djibouti.

[CanadianGuitarist]

Can't forget the African draw

Group 4: Nigeria, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone.

 

I thought South Africa was automatically in for hosting?

 

And how long has the defending champion not been exempt?

[CanadianChris]

I thought South Africa was automatically in for hosting?

 

And how long has the defending champion not been exempt?

Since 2006. And yes, South Africa is already in -- the World Cup qualifier is also the qualifier for the African Nations Cup, for which RSA is not exempt.