A quick summary of action around UEFA on FRI 07-SAT 08 SEP 2012. more...

Just over a year after lifting the Men’s World Cup in Johannesburg, Spain have been handed a stiff challenge in their bid to qualify for Brazil 2014. They must face France and Belarus in UEFA Group 9. Elsewhere, Group 1 involves Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, and Scotland; another tricky section is found in Group 3 and its mashup of Germany, Sweden, Ireland Rep, and Austria. The winners of each group qualify, and the second placed finishers, not including the worst placed one, play off in pairs to decide the other four places. more...

The draw for the Brazil 2014 qualifiers begins at 18:00 UTC on SAT 30 JUL 2011, as more than 100 nations are due to discover their path to the Men’s World Cup. The proceedings in Rio de Janeiro begin with the drawing of pairs for the intercontinental playoffs that will involve teams from CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, the AFC, and the OFC. The teams will then be drawn into their groups one confederation at a time, beginning with CAF and proceeding with the AFC, CONCACAF, the OFC, and finally UEFA. See the separate news items for each confederation’s draw procedure and seedings.

At the qualifying draw for Brazil 2014, the draw for the UEFA group phase will be made. The teams will be drawn into nine groups. Each will contain one team from the first five pots, and all groups but one will also contain a team from Pot 6. The one constraint is that in keeping with UEFA policy dealing with political tensions, Russia and Georgia will be placed in separate groups. The same applies to Armenia and Azerbaijan, but as these two have ended up in the same pot, the job is automatically done. The nine group winners qualify, and the best eight second placed teams advance to the playoffs, to be drawn later. more...

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...