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There are three slots yet to be filled to complete the set of teams that will be in Qatar later this year for the FIFA World Cup.
But whiles those three candidates are keenly awaited, football’s world governing body, FIFA, will go ahead with the draw of the competition.
That event is slated for April 1 in Qatar and is expected to gather football aficionados from the level of global and continental management, national association or federation heads, former footballer and fans.
According to FIFA and the local organizing committee, the World Cup will kick off on 21st November and is expected to end on 18th December.
<>GhanaWeb presents an ‘All You Need To Know’ piece on the draw
Who is in it?
Pot 1 (seeded teams): Qatar, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain, Portugal.
Pot 2: Mexico, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland, USA, Croatia.
Pot 3: Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea, Tunisia.
Pot 4: Cameroon, Canada, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Wales/Scotland/Ukraine, Costa Rica/New Zealand, UAE/Australia/Peru.
The remaining three slots: Who are involved?
One of the remaining slots will be occupied by Wales, Scotland or Ukraine, but it will not be until June when the remaining European play-offs take place that the winner will be known.
Costa Rica will also battle New Zealand for a slot whiles UAE/Australia/Peru slug it out for the last ticket.
Incidentally, all these awaited teams find themselves in the last Pot.
How does it work?
The procedures approved by the Organising Committee for FIFA Competitions outline that the 28 already qualified teams will be allocated according to sporting principles to pots 1 to 4 based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking released on 31 March following the conclusion of the international match window.
As hosts, Qatar will take position A1 from Pot 1, where they will be joined by the seven highest-ranked qualified teams from the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking.
The countries occupying positions 8-15 in the ranking of the qualified teams will be allocated to Pot 2, while the 16th-23rd best-ranked qualifiers will be placed in Pot 3.
Finally, Pot 4 will include the qualified teams in positions 24 to 28, plus three placeholders representing the two winners of the intercontinental play-offs and the remaining UEFA play-off winner.
Credit to the BBC Sports website
Who is doing the draw?
FIFA has invited eight former players and managers to be on stage to help with the draw:
They are: World Cup winners Cafu of Brazil and Lothar Matthaus of Germany.
The others will be Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria), Tim Cahill (Australia), Adel Ahmed MalAllah (Qatar), Ali Daei (Iran), Bora Milutinovic (Serbia/Mexico) and Rabah Madjer (Algeria).
Hosts, venue of the draw
Ex-England midfielder Jenas, former USA women’s international Carli Lloyd and British TV presenter Samantha Johnson will host the show.
Fans and teams will find out their paths to possible glory on 1 April from 19:00 (local time), at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center.
