CONCACAF First Round draw

CONCACAF has decided to join the AFC in holding at least one round of qualifying before the main qualifying draw takes place on 30 July 2011. The bottom ten teams in the CONCACAF

rankings were paired together by ranking and not by a random draw.

The matchups are as follows:

26. Belize - 35. Montserrat

27. Dominican Republic - 34. Anguilla

28. British Virgin Islands - 33. US Virgin Islands

29. Saint Lucia - 32. Aruba

30. Turks and Caicos - 31. Bahamas

The first legs are scheduled for 3 June 2011 with the return legs scheduled for 7 June 2011. The lower seed will host the first leg, and the higher seed will host the return leg.

AFC draw for first and second rounds

While international attention is currently focused on 2011 AFC Asian Cup runners-up Australia's recent friendly win at Germany and 2011 AFC Asian Cup champions Japan's having to withdraw from the 2011 Copa América, the lesser footballing nations of Asia quietly learned their fates for the first and second qualifying rounds for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

On 30 March 2011, the draw for the first two knockout rounds of AFC qualifying was held in Kuala Lumpur. As best as can be determined, in both the first and second rounds, the higher seeded team hosts the first leg of every knockout series and the lower seeded team hosts the second leg.

The first leg matches of the first round will take place on 29 June 2011, while the second leg matches of the first round will take place on 3 July 2011.

First round matchups:

1: Malaysia - Taiwan

2: Bangladesh - Pakistan

3: Cambodia - Laos

4: Sri Lanka - Philippines

5: Afghanistan - Palestine

6: Vietnam - Macau

7: Nepal - Timor-Leste

8: Mongolia - Myanmar

The first leg matches of the second round will take place on 23 July 2011. The second leg matches of the second round will take place on 28 July 2011.

Second round matchups:

Thailand - Winner of 5

Lebanon - Winner of 2

China - Winner of 3

Turkmenistan - Indonesia

Kuwait - Winner of 4

Oman - Winner of 8

Saudi Arabia - Hong Kong

Iran - Maldives

Syria - Tajikistan

Qatar - Winner of 6

Iraq - Yemen

Singapore - Winner of 1

Uzbekistan - Kyrgyzstan

United Arab Emirates - India

Jordan - Winner of 7

AFC announces draw procedure

On 23 March 2011, the AFC announced its draw procedure for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The AFC has been alloted 4.5 places at the next world cup.

43 of AFC's 46 members have signed up for the qualifiers with only Bhutan, Guam, and the suspended Brunei missing out.

The top five seeds have been given byes into the third round.

1. Japan

2. South Korea

3. Australia

4. North Korea

5. Bahrain

Teams seeded 6-27 were given byes into the second round but were placed into two separate pots for that draw.

Pot A

6. Saudi Arabia

7. Iran

8. Qatar

9. Uzbekistan

10. United Arab Emirates

11. Syria

12. Oman

13. Jordan

14. Iraq

15. Singapore

16. China

17. Kuwait

18. Thailand

19. Turkmenistan

20. Lebanon

Pot B

21. Yemen

22. Tajikistan

23. Hong Kong

24. Indonesia

25. Kyrgyzstan

26. Maldives

27. India

Pot B will also contain eight places allocated to the winners of the first round matchups.

The lowest 16 seeds were drawn into first round matches after being split into two pots.

Pot C

28. Malaysia

29. Afghanistan

30. Cambodia

31. Nepal

32. Bangladesh

33. Sri Lanka

34. Vietnam

35. Mongolia

Pot D

36. Pakistan

37. Palestine

38. Timor-Leste

39. Macau

40. Taiwan

40. Myanmar

42. Philippines

42. Laos

The eight first round home-and-away knockout series winners will join twenty-two teams given byes into the second round for another home-and-away knockout series. The fifteen second-round survivors advance into the third round and join the top five seeds.

These twenty teams will be drawn into five groups of four teams. All teams within a group will play each other home and away. The top two teams in each third round group advance to the fourth round.

The fourth round consists of two groups of five teams each. All teams within a group will play each other home and away. The top two teams in each fourth round group advance to the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brasil.

The two third place teams in fourth round will advance to the AFC home-and-away playoff series. The winner of the AFC playoff series advances to an inter-confederation knockout series against a team from a yet-to-be-determined confederation. The winner of this inter-confederation series will advance to the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brasil.

First round format for OFC is announced

Similar to the 2007 edition, the 2011 South Pacific Games in Nouméa, New Caledonia will double as the first round of OFC qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2012 OFC Nations Cup. New Zealand has been given a bye into the second and final round of OFC qualifying, but twelve other teams will be participating at the South Pacific Games. The OFC has been allotted .5 places at the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brasil. All eleven OFC members have entered the tournament. The format was announced on 21 March 2011.

The football tournament at the 2011 South Pacific Games will take place between 27 August 2011 and 9 September 2011.

The following twelve teams will be drawn into three groups of four with each team playing all the others teams in its group once at the Stade Numa-Daly. No details have been given concerning the division of these teams into pots.

American Samoa

Cook Islands

Fiji

New Caledonia

Papua New Guinea

Samoa

Solomon Islands

Tahiti

Tonga

Vanuatu

Kiribati - not eligible for FIFA World Cup

Tuvalu - not eligible for FIFA World Cup

The top two teams from each group plus the best two third-place teams will advance to the eight-team knockout stage. The two finalists and the winner of the third-place match advance to the second round of OFC qualifying alongside New Zealand. There has been no explanation of what would happen should either Kiribati or Tuvalu advance this far.

The second round of OFC qualifying will involve one four-team group. The four teams will play the other three teams both home and away. The group winner advances to an inter-confederation home-and-away playoff series against a team from a yet-to-be-determined confederation, with the winner of the inter-confederation playoff advancing to the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brasil. In addition, the OFC group winner will be crowned 2012 OFC Nations Cup champion and will earn a berth to the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brasil.

CONCACAF announces format for qualifiers

On 16 March 2011, CONCACAF finalized its qualification format for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. CONCACAF has been alloted 3.5 places at the next FIFA World Cup.

All 35 members of CONCACAF have entered qualifying.

The first round of CONCACAF qualifying will pit teams seeded 26 through 35 against each other in five home-and-away knockout series. The five winners advance to the second round.

In the second round, teams seeded 7 through 24 enter the competition. These nineteen teams plus the five first-round winners will be drawn into six groups of four. It is unknown whether a team will play each of the other teams in its group both home and away or simply once at a neutral site. The six group winners advance to the third round.

The third round of qualifying will mark the debut of teams seeded 1 through 6. These six teams plus the six second-round winners will be drawn into three groups of four teams. Each team will play the others teams in its group both home and away. The top two from each group advance to the fourth round.

The fourth round of qualifying consists of one group of six teams. Each team plays the other teams in the group both home and away. The top three teams qualify directly to the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brasil.

The fourth-place team advances to an inter-confederation home-and-away playoff series against a team from a yet-to-be-determined confederation. The winner of this inter-confederation playoff advances to the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brasil.

Allocation of places

After FIFA's announcement on 3 March 2011, the number of slots available to each confederation has been determined.

CONCACAF will retain 3.5 places.

CONMEBOL will retain 4.5 places.

UEFA will retain 13 places.

CAF will retain 5 places.

AFC will retain 4.5 places.

OFC will retain .5 places.

Brasil as hosts were allocated the 32nd place on 30 October 2007.

CONMEBOL come out the big winners from this announcement because they were able to retain all 4.5 places in spite of the fact that Brasil is host and Brasil has always accounted for 1 of the alloted South American places at the FIFA World Cup. Perhaps CONMEBOL will be able to send six representatives to the first finals played on South American soil since 1986.

In a new twist, the matchups for the two spots allocated for the winners of inter-confederation playoffs will be determined by random draw. Teams in 4th place in CONCACAF, 5th place in CONMEBOL, 5th place in AFC, and 1st place in OFC will participate in the draw, which will be a part of the main preliminary draw held on 30 July 2011 in Rio de Janeiro.