How seeding was done and why Europe has more teams in World Cup

[PHOTO/FIFA]

After yesterday’s unveiling of the 32 teams that qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the soccer lovers are yet again waiting for the next crucial moment- the draw that will take place in State Kremlin, Moscow on Friday evening.

The International Federation of Football Association slotted teams in various pots. While it sounds like a preliminary stage, the seeding matters a lot in shaping the destiny of teams battling it out for the world cup. This is why- it determines the opponents that a team is going to be slotted against in the pool, and so is its ability to qualify for the elimination stage.

A Statement from the website of football management body FIFA on seeding confirms that previous performances and world ranking in soccer are the key ingredients in decision making. The statement reads in part:

“The October 2017 edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be used to allocate all qualified teams to the four pots according to their ranking in descending order, with the best seven teams along with hosts Russia in pot 1.”

The top seven-rated teams include Germany, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Poland and France which join Russia as part of pot 1. Pot two consists of teams that are ranked beyond number 8 up to 18 in the ranking index. Such will include Spain, England, Switzerland, Peru, Colombia, Uruguay, Croatia and Mexico. Port 3 will encompass teams falling within the bracket of 19 to 34 in rating. Denmark, Iceland, Costa Rica, Sweden, Tunisia, Egypt, Iran and Senegal have been earmarked for the group. The last pot, number 4 will consist of those falling within the bracket of 38 to 63 in world ranking. They are predominantly Asian and African teams like Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Japan, Morocco, Panama, South Korea, Australia, and Serbia.

Of all the 5 confederations represented in the global competition, Europe produces 13 teams out of 32 which is the majority. As this may look as unfair to other regions, again, analysts argue that world ranking is still the determinant to the number of slots dished out.

The argument is that confederations where majority of the teams are poorly ranked, such regions are given limited slots. Take an example of Confederation of African Football, the highest ranked African team is Senegal which sits at position 23 according to the 2015 FIFA Coca Cola World Ranking. When compared to Europe which has 5 teams in the top 7 teams, the difference would be indisputable.

In the draw, FIFA states that teams from the same confederation will not be drawn in the same pool except for European teams, which may be slotted in the same pool but at a maximum of two teams. Also, teams from various pots will be paired together in the draw.