The familiar Men’s World Cup qualifying format in UEFA returns for the 2014 edition. This time, with the same number of participants and the same number of slots available, the format will be completely identical as for South Africa 2010. In the group phase, the 53 nations, including defending champions Spain, will play in nine groups. The winners of each group will qualify, and the top eight amongst the second placed finishers will play off for the remaining four slots. The action is due to begin in SEP 2012. more...

CONMEBOL’s qualifiers for Brazil 2014 will remain the same as the last several tournaments, except, of course, for Brazil’s absence. Whilst the hosts sit out as automatic qualifiers, the other nine CONMEBOL members will play one another twice in the group phase. The four teams at the top qualify automatically, and the fifth placed team enters the playoffs against an opponent from another confederation. more...

Still three years away from the final tournament, the qualifiers for the 2014 Men’s World Cup are about to begin. The first qualifier is between St Lucia and Aruba, and more than 800 additional matches will be played over the next two and one half years to determine which 31 of the 203 hopefuls will join Brazil in 2014.