Russia 2018: UEFA unveils the format of qualification for the 14 places for Europe

UEFA confirmed, on 23/03/2015, the format of the European qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, which will be played from September 2016 to November 2017. This decision was made by the UEFA Executive Committee, which met in advance of the 39^th Congress of the European body organised in Vienna (AUT) on 24/03/2015.

52 of the 54 UEFA associations (all except Russia, the host country, and Gibraltar, which is not a member of FIFA) will participate in qualification and will be divided into nine groups: seven groups of six teams and two groups of five teams. The team that comes in first of each of the nine groups will qualify directly for the 2018 World Cup, along with the four winners of a play-off round among the eight best runners-up of the nine groups.

Russia, the host country, will be added to the thirteen qualified teams, which will bring the total number of European countries participating in the 2018 World Cup to 14, compared to 13 in 2010 (World Cup in South Africa) and 2014 (Brazil).

The number of European teams for the 2018 and 2022 editions of the World Cup will be…