2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF) explained

Tourney Name:2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
Num Teams:35
Confederations:1
Top Scorer: Carlos Ruiz
Prevseason:2014
Nextseason:2022

The North, Central American and Caribbean section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, for national teams which are members of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). 3.5 slots (3 direct slots and 1 inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament were available for CONCACAF teams.[1]

In a change to previous qualification tournaments for this confederation,[2] the first three rounds were played as knockout rounds, with both the fourth round and the final round (referred to as the "Hexagonal") played as group stages. The first round was played during the FIFA international dates of 23–31 March 2015.[3] CONCACAF announced the full format details on 12 January 2015.[4] [5]

The United States failed to qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1986 after a surprise defeat by Trinidad and Tobago. As a result, Panama reached the World Cup for the first time in their history.

Format

The qualification structure was as follows:[6]

Entrants

All 35 FIFA-affiliated national teams from CONCACAF entered qualification.[7] The seeding – used to draw the first four rounds of the qualifiers – was based on the FIFA World Rankings of August 2014 (shown in parentheses).

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.

valign=top
RoundMatchdayDate
First roundFirst leg22–31 March 2015
Second leg
Second roundFirst leg8–16 June 2015
Second leg
Third roundFirst leg31 August – 8 September 2015
Second leg
Fourth roundMatchday 19–17 November 2015
Matchday 2
Matchday 321–29 March 2016
Matchday 4
Matchday 529 August – 6 September 2016
Matchday 6
valign=top
RoundMatchdayDate
Fifth roundMatchday 17–15 November 2016
Matchday 2
Matchday 320–28 March 2017
Matchday 4
Matchday 55–13 June 2017
Matchday 6
Matchday 728 August – 5 September 2017
Matchday 8
Matchday 92–10 October 2017
Matchday 10

The inter-confederation play-offs were scheduled to be played between 6–14 November 2017.[9]

First round

See main article: article and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF first round.

The draw for the first round was held on 15 January 2015, 19:40 EST (UTC−5), at the W Hotel at Miami Beach, Florida, United States.[10]

Second round

See main article: article and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF second round.

The draw for the second round was held on 15 January 2015, 19:40 EST (UTC−5), at the W Hotel at Miami Beach, Florida, United States.

Third round

See main article: article and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF third round.

The draw for the third round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.[11]

Fourth round

See main article: article and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF fourth round.

The draw for the fourth round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.[11]

Groups

Group C

Fifth round

See main article: article and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF fifth round.

As with every World Cup qualification campaign since 1998, CONCACAF held a six-team, home-and-away round-robin group known as the 'Hexagonal', or 'Hex', as its final and decisive round. As a result of the abolition of the February and August fixtures from the FIFA calendar, the 'Hex' for the first time was not contained within a single calendar year, but instead began in November 2016 and concluded in October 2017.

The draw for the fifth round (to decide the fixtures) was held on 8 July 2016, 10:00 EDT (UTC−4), at the CONCACAF headquarters in Miami Beach, United States.[12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

Inter-confederation play-offs

See main article: article and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF–AFC play-off).

The draw for the inter-confederation play-offs was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg.[17] The fourth-placed team from CONCACAF was drawn against the fifth-placed team from Asian Football Confederation (AFC), with the CONCACAF team hosting the first leg.[18]

Qualified teams

The following three teams from CONCACAF qualified for the final tournament.

TeamQualified asQualified ondata-sort-type="number"Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
15 (1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1978, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)
4 (1990, 2002, 2006, 2014)
0 (debut)

1 Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Top goalscorers

Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Current allocation of FIFA World Cup confederation slots maintained. https://web.archive.org/web/20150530211217/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2015/m=5/news=current-allocation-of-fifa-world-cuptm-confederation-slots-maintained-2610611.html. dead. 30 May 2015. FIFA.com. 30 May 2015.
  2. Web site: Concacaf estrenará formato de eliminatoria; sigue el Hexagonal . New format for Concacaf qualification - Hexagonal retained. ESPN Mexico. 23 September 2014 . 3 December 2014. es.
  3. Web site: Canada begins 2018 World Cup qualification in June . . 19 November 2014 . 3 December 2014.
  4. Web site: CONCACAF to Hold Preliminary FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw in Miami on January 15. CONCACAF. 12 January 2015. 14 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150121023219/http://www.concacaf.com/article/concacaf-to-hold-preliminary-fifa-world-cup-qualifying-draw-in-miami-on-january-15. 21 January 2015. dead. dmy-all.
  5. Web site: 12 January 2015 . CONCACAF hexagonal to start in November 2016 . December 2, 2024 . USA Today.
  6. Web site: Draw Procedures – North, Central American and Caribbean Zone. https://web.archive.org/web/20150724212540/http://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/preliminarydraw/02/66/71/11/northcentralamericacaribbean_drawprocedures_neutral.pdf. dead. 24 July 2015. FIFA.com.
  7. Web site: Road to Russia with new milestone. https://web.archive.org/web/20150115183352/http://www.fifa.com//worldcup/russia2018/news/newsid=2507253/index.html. dead. 15 January 2015. FIFA.com. 15 January 2015.
  8. Web site: FIFA Men's Ranking – August 2014 (CONCACAF). https://web.archive.org/web/20141202232731/http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/rank=241/concacaf.html. dead. 2 December 2014. FIFA.com. 14 August 2014.
  9. Web site: FIFA Calendar . https://web.archive.org/web/20070603165849/http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/calendar/events.html . dead . 3 June 2007 . FIFA.com.
  10. Web site: Official Draw: CONCACAF Qualifiers for FIFA World Cup Russia 2018. CONCACAF.com. 15 January 2015. 16 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150201053834/http://www.concacaf.com/video/official-draw-concacaf-qualifiers-for-fifa-world-cup-russia-2018. 1 February 2015. dead. dmy-all.
  11. Web site: Draw shines light on CONCACAF’s WCQ path. CONCACAF. 25 July 2015. 31 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20170910040407/http://www.concacaf.com/article/draw-shines-light-on-concacafs-wcq-path. 10 September 2017. dead. dmy-all.
  12. Web site: Official Draw Scheduled for the final round of CONCACAF Qualifying for FIFA World Cup Russia 2018. CONCACAF.com. 1 July 2016. 1 July 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20170902231200/http://www.concacaf.com/article/official-draw-scheduled-for-the-final-round-of-concacaf-qualifying-for-fifa-world-cup-russia-2018. 2 September 2017. dead. dmy-all.
  13. Web site: Draw: CONCACAF Qualifying for FIFA World Cup Russia 2018. CONCACAF.com. 7 July 2016. 8 July 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160711061620/http://www.concacaf.com/video/official-draw-final-round-concacaf-qualifying-for-fifa-world-cup-russia-2018. 11 July 2016. dead.
  14. Web site: Mexico to open Hex on the road. https://web.archive.org/web/20160709131518/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2016/m=7/news=mexico-to-open-hex-on-the-road-2811514.html. dead. 9 July 2016. FIFA.com. 8 July 2016.
  15. Web site: 2016-07-08 . USA could host Mexico in first match of World Cup qualifying hexagonal . 2024-12-02 . SI . en-US.
  16. Web site: 2016-07-08 . Mexico could open hex on road vs. U.S. . 2024-12-02 . ESPN.com . en.
  17. Web site: Preliminary Draw procedures outlined . https://web.archive.org/web/20150712005248/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2015/m=7/news=preliminary-draw-procedures-outlined-2661542.html . dead . 12 July 2015 . fifa.com . 9 July 2015 . 9 July 2015.
  18. Web site: The Preliminary Draw results in full. https://web.archive.org/web/20150728035255/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2015/m=7/news=the-preliminary-draw-results-in-full-2667929.html. dead. 28 July 2015. FIFA.com. 25 July 2015.

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