Just yesterday evening, FIFA authorities in Brazil, the next World Cup hosts, have drawn the group lots for 2014s biggest sporting event.

This has been a hot topic on everyone’s minds and calendars as almost everywhere is hoping to get into the final stage of play, the 2014 World Cup Main Draw of the best 32 national football teams in the world (the host is automatically one of these).

And moving straight on to the draw results:
This year, due to Brazil hosting rather than South Africa, the allocations to the continental confederations have changed…

• European UEFA get a massive 13 places;
• CAF of Africa receive a respectable 5 places;
• Asian AFC take 4 or 5 places;
• CONMEBOL of South America have also 4 or 5 places, alongside Brazil who are hosting to make 5 or 6;
• North, Central and Caribbean American CONCACAF get almost the smallest, 3 or 4 slots;
• And Oceanian OFC receive a measly 0 or 1 main draw spots.

The countries with undecided numbers will play a separate tournament to decide who gets it. If Oceania were to win, they would have 1 place, and Asia would have 4, South America 5 and North America 3. 

For those intercontinental places, Asia have been drawn against South America, and CONCACAF will play Oceania. Asia and South America will have their 5th best national team, whilst North America will use their 4th best and Oceania their premier team. It’s is also noteworthy that Australia are counted in the Asia region.

Taken straight from the FIFA official website, here are the full draw results. Some regions have already entered further rounds, and these have been listed  instead of the first round draw.

African Zone Draw 
Group A: South Africa, Botswana, Central African Republic, Somalia or Ethiopia 
Group B: Tunisia, Cape Verde Islands, Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea or Madagascar 
Group C: Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, Gambia, Chad or Tanzania 
Group D: Ghana, Zambia, Sudan, Lesotho or Burundi 
Group E: Burkina Faso, Gabon, Niger, Sao Tome e Principe or Congo 
Group F: Nigeria, Malawi, Seychelles or Kenya, Djibouti or Namibia 
Group G: Egypt, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Comoros or Mozambique 
Group H: Algeria, Mali, Benin, Eritrea or Rwanda 
Group I: Cameroon, Libya, Guinea-Bissau or Togo, Swaziland or Congo DR 
Group J: Senegal, Uganda, Angola, Mauritius or Liberia 

Asian Zone Draw 
Group A: China, Jordan, Iraq, Singapore 
Group B: Korea Republic, Kuwait, UAE, Lebanon 
Group C: Japan, Uzbekistan, Syria, Korea DPR 
Group D: Australia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Thailand 
Group E: Iran, Qatar, Bahrain, Indonesia 

North, Central America and the Caribbean Zone Draw (Round Two) 
Group A: El Salvador, Surinam, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic 
Group B: Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Bermuda 
Group C: Panama, Dominica, Nicaragua, Bahamas 
Group D: Canada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico, St Lucia 
Group E: Grenada, Guatemala, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize 
Group F: Haiti, Antigua and Barbuda, Curacao, US Virgin Islands 

North, Central America and the Caribbean Zone Draw (Round Three) 
Group A: USA, Jamaica, Winner of R2 Grp E, Winner of R2 Grp F 
Group B: Mexico, Costa Rica, Winner of R2 Grp A, Winner of R2 Grp B 
Group C: Honduras, Cuba, Winner of R2 Grp D, Winner of R2 Grp C 

Oceanian Zone Draw
Group A: Vanuatu, New Caledonia, American Samoa/Cook Islands/Samoa or Tonga, Tahiti.
Group B: Fiji, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea.

European Zone Draw 
Group A: Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Scotland, Macedonia, Wales 
Group B: Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Armenia, Malta. 
Group C: Germany, Sweden, Republic of Ireland, Austria, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan. 
Group D: Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Andorra. 
Group E: Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, Albania, Cyprus, Iceland. 
Group F: Portugal, Russia, Israel, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg. 
Group G: Greece, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania, Latvia, Lichtenstein.
Group H: England, Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, San Marino.
Group I: Spain, France, Belarus, Georgia, Finland.

In Africa, 5 out of 52 countries will qualify, less than 10%! Just one of these 52 are in the top 25, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).
In Asia, possibly as few as 4 countries will qualify out of 43, possible even less than Africa’s 10%!! Only 2 here are in the FIFA World Rankings, Japan and Australia.
In North, Central and Caribbean America just 3 may countries of 35 qualify, even less than both Africa and Asia!!! Their only competetive representative is ranked 20th, Mexico.
In Oceania, 11 teams are competing for possibly a non-existant place, the lowest even possible. Here, not a single team is in the top 25, their highest is New Zealand at a terrible 94th worldwide! 
In Europe, the UEFA gets 13 spots for their 53 national confederations, the highest odds of every continent. They also have the strongest teams, 16 of the international top 25 teams are under the UEFA.

So what do you think, after such a lengthy article? Are you happy with where your countries have been drawn? Or have you got unlucky this time round? Leave your thoughts below!!!

Powered by WPeMatico

(No Ratings Yet)