FIFA World Cup Draw | OneFootball

The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. will be the center of the soccer universe for a few hours on Friday, December 5th, as FIFA will be conducting the draw to determine World Cup groups. Much more than a bingo night with a multi-million dollar budget, it will be an awkward performance event that COULD be over in fifteen minutes but instead will take three hours (or more).

Why So Long?

Your hosts for the event will include Heidi Klum (who’s German so that’s close enough to soccer) and I’ll-do-anything-for-a-buck comedian Kevin Hart. Actor and producer Danny Ramirez (who is a complete unknown to this writer), will “engage football greats in attendance, bringing Hollywood flair.”

Live performances will feature:

No joke, the combined age of these “entertainers” is 340 years old (assuming that four other members of Village People average 25 years old, which is VERY generous).

The actual draw will feature some guests from each of the other four (what most Americans would classify as “normal”) sports leagues in the United States:

For the masochists out there, you can watch the entire event on FIFA’s website, their YouTube channel, or broadcast on FOX.

Enough with the Glitter, How Does the Draw Work?

At its simplest, the draw will construct the twelve groups that comprise the World Cup groups. All the qualified countries are placed into “pots” by their FIFA coefficient ranking. Any team qualifying through one of the two playoff spots (UEFA’s Play-off or the Intercontinental Play-off) are automatically placed into Pot 4.

Who’s in Pot 1?

The three co-host nations: Canada (27), Mexico (15), United States (14).The remaining nine listed in FIFA rank order: Spain (1), Argentina (2), France (3), England (4), Brazil (5), Portugal (6), Netherlands (7), Belgium (8), Germany (8).

Who’s in Pot 2?

Once again, listed in FIFA rank order: Croatia (10), Morocco (11), Colombia (13), Uruguay (16), Switzerland (17), Japan (18), Senegal (19), Iran (20), South Korea (22), Ecuador (23), Austria (24), Australia (26).

Who’s in Pot 3?

You know it… FIFA ranked order: Norway (29), Panama (30), Egypt (34), Algeria (35), Scotland (36), Paraguay (39), Tunisia (40), Côte d’Ivoire (42), Uzbekistan (50), Qatar (51), Saudi Arabia (60), South Africa (61)

And Pot 4 has…

Jordan (66), Cabo Verde (68), Ghana (72), Curaçao (82), Haiti (84), New Zealand (86).Plus four teams that can qualify from the UEFA play-off, and two teams from the Intercontinental play-off.

Who’s in the UEFA play-off?

Great question. This March competition will pit teams who finished, oh to hell with trying to explain this nonsense. There are eight teams split into four groups. Winners of the first game will then play the other winner. The last four teams standing get tickets to the World Cup.

What is the Intercontinental playoff?

This event will be held in Mexico and is a staggered competition among six teams from five confederations (UEFA is excluded). Two teams will earn spots in the World Cup.— New Caledonia will play Jamaica. The winner faces the Democratic Republic of Congo.— Bolivia faces Suriname in the other path, with the winner taking on Iraq for the last spot.

Could FIFA Have Made This Any More Complicated?

Probably, but let’s all be thankful that all the really important stuff about which countries will be playing each other will take a back seat to the awarding of the inaugural “Peace Prize.”