Despite reports suggesting that CONCACAF was closing in on receiving a fourth guaranteed berth in the 2014 World Cup, it appears that FIFA will not make any changes to the amount of spots allocated to each confederation.
CONCACAF will still have its three automatic berths, and a fourth team can qualify through a playoff. Although it previously was predetermined against which confederation that fourth team would play, that has been changed. FIFA plans to institute a playoff draw for the final qualifiers between nations from CONCACAF, South America, Asia and Oceania.
The playoff draw is a major victory for CONCACAF because it means the fourth-place CONCACAF team won't necessarily have to play a South American opponent. Costa Rica lost to eventual World Cup Fourth Place finisher Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup qualifying playoff.
UEFA, which remains set at 13 berths, and Africa, which still has five, would not be included in that draw, because they have no partial qualifiers.
What do you think about this? Disappointed CONCACAF won't get another automatic spot? Do you like the idea of the playoff draw?
Share your thoughts below.
Regardless of whether Africa deserves what it has, how does CONCACAF deserve more spots based on our confederations history?
Outside of the US/Mexico, the only CONCACAF sides to ever get out of a group stage was Costa Rica in 1990, where they got housed in the QF. Cuba made a QF in 1938, but had to beat one team to get there, and then lost 8-0.
Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, and T and T all haven’t gotten out of the group stage lately, and it isn’t like the US and Mexico keep making deep runs in the Cup either.
Even if you took away 2-3 African spots, hard to argue CONCACAF should get them.
FIFA.com ranking table, when divided by confederation, lists the number of teams ranked in each confederation. I’m not sure all are eligible for World Cup qualifying (such as Puerto Rico or US Virgin Islands), but:
CONCACAF 35
CAF 52
AFC 46
UEFA 53
CONMEBOL 10
OFC 11
If you use FIFA’s flawed ranking system:
Top 32 teams:
Europe: 20, South America: 5, Asia: 3, CONCACAF and Africa: 2 each
Some other facts:Asia: 46 (countries in the confederation)/
132 (average ranking)/37.8 (Top 5 avg. ranking)
Africa: 52/108/31
CONCACAF: 35/126/38.2
South America: 10/39/11
Ocenia: 11/169/142
Europe: 53/59/4
I blame Grant Wahl and his campaign to be FIFA president for this. Sepp is MAD!
Will, don’t be so difficult, reading an entire article is kinda hard. Could you please just call Jimmy and let him know the answer.
except that they have 3 to 4 times as many countries, which is part of why it’s called a WORLD cup
Every confederation has their own championship…..Are you really blamming UEFA for having the most successfull( and only watchable) one?
Honestly I think the problem could be solved by joined CONCACAF and CONMEBOL. It really is unfair that 60% of one federation’s teams get picked regardless of performance because this is a world competition and not a federation’s shindig. If we had one America’s confederation with 7 or 7.5 spots I think qualifying intensity would increase (good for US and Mexico) and maybe even performance at the world cup.
This is the second post I’ve seen that refers to the CONCACAF qualification format. This has nothing to do with the Hex. There is no more Hex.
An acient dead greek guy, is an ancient dead greek guy, is an ancient dead greek guy.
No offense taken – or intended.
And I’m really just kidding with you. 100% tongue in cheek.
Nor would I expect a Midwesterner to know the difference between Aristophanes, the comedic playwright, and Aristotle, the eminent philosopher.
check this out: http://flowingdata.com/2010/10/18/true-size-of-africa/
I don’t think either Aris or I are saying WC final slots should be allocated by population only. I was just suggesting that if Asia or Africa are getting more slots than CONCACAF because they have more countries competing, the number may not be that different
somehow this got posted below:
Who am I to battle wits with such a great philosopher. My assumption was based on the large number of caribbean countries in the early qualifying rounds. Of course, my geography knowledge only ranges from Madison in the north, Chicago to the west, lexington to the south and Cleveland
Who am i to battle wits with such a great philosopher. My assumption was based on the large number of caribbean countries in the early qualifying rounds. Of course, my geography knowledge only ranges from Madison in the north, Chicago to the west, lexington to the south and Cleveland.
If the defending champions compete during qualifying and fail to earn a spot in the final 32…then they did defend their title but were eliminated without going to the final dance.
So Asia should get 2/3 of the spots (population) and South America should get 2 (10 countries competing)?
I understand the host spot, but I wouldn’t give more to UEFA – they rule the roost as it is.
While I prefer more spots to CONCACAF (okay, I am a homer), I think the play-off may be the best way to proceed. I think that if Costa Rica were competing in a home and away in 2009 with New Zealand or 5th place Asia, CONCACAF probably would have had 4 teams.
I would love for CONCACAF to receive the extra half-spot. Really disappointed that Costa Rica lost out (with a questionable off-sides in the mix) on the trip to SA.
That being said, I’m not sure the quality is there for 4 spots. The drop-off after the first two spots is huge.
HOWEVER, Africa with 5 spots is a joke after their performance on “home soil” and even Asia with 4.5 doesn’t seem to match their conference power.
No doubt, it’s just that they’ve outperformed the field.
Not that I would expect a Midwesterner to know (relax, I kid), but there are many more African countries than North American countries, and it’s the second most populous continent.
Josh – that is not correct
in 2006 neither South Korea or Japan made it out of group. Japan and US both finished bottom of their group – the US sucked, but no Asian team made it out of group, and Mexico advanced to Round 1 where they got beat by Argentina.
In 2010 all four countries made it out of group, but were defeated in Round 1.
If you want to go back to 2002 where J &
SK were co-hosts, okay, they both did well. But I don’t think FIFA looks that far back.
I’m just glad that FIFA/CONCACAF didn’t take away meaningful US-Mexico qualifiers.
Africa has never progressed well in the World Cup. See for yourself –
2010: 1 of 6 advanced past the group stage
2006: 1 of 5 advanced past the group stage
2002: 1 of 5 advanced past the group stage
1998: 1 of 5 advanced past the group stage
1994: 1 of 3 advanced past the group stage (and this was when 16 of 24 DID advance)
Extra CONCACAF teams may or may not flame out in the group stage but the evidence shows the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th African clubs WILL flame out. They don’t deserve 5 spots.
read the article once more
+1 Jason.
CONCACAF is not UEFA or CONMEBOL, but we should be comparing CONCACAF with Africa and Asia. If it is a number of countries trying to qualify, I think all the central and carribean nations trying to get in outnumber the African countries.
Like you said, the quality is there. The only reason they have 6 is because they are the host. They would normally only have 5. If you want to take 1/2 from CONMEBOL and have them have a playoff with UEFA, I would be fine with that.
Japan and Korea have both gone farther than the US and Mexico in recent years and showed well last year. As well as compete against other countries in different continents than we do in friendlies.
African teams traditionally are extremely strong and have progressed well in the WC during previous iterations. The continent itself is also larger, with far more competing teams.
We always have a mix of: US, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, T&T. Asia always has a mix Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia and maybe one more traditional power.
Africa has a big mix of competing teams. I have no problems with this.
I agree. While CONCACAF participants have not done well outside of US and Mexico, is that any different than Africa or Asia. Again, what Asian country has made it beyond the group stage other than japan and South Korea. Remember Australia did well in 2006 as a member of Oceana. And remember that T&T defeated Bahrain or some country in a play off to get to 2006. I disagree with anyone saying CONCACAF has substantially less quality than Asia – or Africa for that matter.
The only problem with that is CONMEBOL gets 6 spots for 10 (I think) countries. While the quality is there, that is a little out of proportion with the rest of the world, when only Argentina and Brazil really do well consistently. I know S. America did well in 2010, but 60% of countries qualifying is unfair.
I agree on Africa’s reduction – no consistency among its players. I also think that Asia is over rated. Only South Korea and Japan have shown any quality, and their results are not much different than the US and Mexico. Please remember that Australia’s good showing in 2006 was as a member of Oceana.
Also defending World Champ should get an automatic bid from their region. Don’t understand why they ever did away with that and when it eventually happens, it will be a travesty that the Champion cannot defend their title.
Post-colonial white guilt.
+1
Should have taken 1 full spot from Africa and given 1/2 a spot to CONMEBOL 1/2 a spot to CONCACAF.
This is how it should be:
UEFA 13
CONMEBOL 5
AFRICA 4
CONCACAF 4
ASIA 4.5
OCEANIA .5
HOST 1
No, they didn’t. There’s no way that Africa deserves 5 and Asia deserves 4.5 if we only get 3.5.
Look at 2010 Africa: only 1 of 6 teams made it out of the group stage, the host nation failed to get out of the group stage for the first time ever, and 3 of their 6 came in dead last in their group. In 2006, 1 of 5 made it through. The other 4 teams combined for 6 points in the group stage. Those performances do not warrant more spots than CONCACAF.
Shocker
Getting a fourth spot was always problematic for CONCACAF. While Mexico and the US have done well, the third spot was always shaky. The fact that Honduras did not play badly in their group considering the opposition, and the fact that the potential 4th place qualifier, Costa Rica played well in a close match against the future WC fourth place,Uraguay , probably emboldened CONCACAF to go after the 4th spot. More likely, just getting the .5 playoff spot away from South America was the real goal. In that case, getting a playoff for a forth spot against an Asian or Oceania team, would be a credible accomplishment.
FIFA screw CONCACAF again, this is ridiculous, giving Africa 5 spots for nothing, they don’t even qualify their teams to the second round of the competition, this is insane.
Yeah, seems the fairest thing I’ve seen them do in quite awhile.
Wow. FIFA actually got something right!
I know I’m stating the obvious but this is good news for the U.S. IF, they falter during WCQ and finish 4th then I like the fact there is a chance they can line up against New Zealand or Bahrain in the playoff and not be guaranteed to play against a South American powerhouse
I like the world aspect, not just UEFA. They already have their own championship.
So basically CONCACAF got bent over in the WC ’18 and ’22 bidding and didn’t even get the reach around of a guaranteed 4th spot in the trounament.
Does this mean that we are going to still have a round robin? If so, we should be happy the fourth spot was not awarded. Now we get to keep our USA-Mexico rivarly intact.
5 for Africa? Based on what? They were the host continent and 5 of 6 teams flamed out in the group stage. In 2006, 4 of their 5 teams flamed out in the group stage.
CONCACAF might not be any great shakes but it deserves at least as many spots as Africa.
just feel lucky that FIFA didn’t TAKE AWAY a spot or half spot. we were getting a little uppity about not getting the 2022 world cup.
3.5 is about right. Maybe even drop the half and give it to UEFA.
Does anyone have any faith in FIFA about anything they do or (do not) decide? I think the last year has shown that the decisions they make rarely take into any sort of consideration what might or might not be good for the game. It is all about the money.
I had always considered that our allocation of 3.5 was correct. Do we have to play the South Americans again for the last qualifying spot again?