Good day everyone , Sorry to take up space & time on this topic . We would like to know ,what the fixtures going to be like for 2014 Intercontinental-Playoff ?. In 2006 it was Concacaf v AFC and Conmebol v OCEANIA , I am assuming Concacaf will play a country from Oceania for WCQ 2014 knowing FIFA have the rotation policy . However Concacaf had played Oceania in 1994 for reference please visit ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_F...on#CONCACAF_.2F_OFC_Intercontinental_Play-off What will the Fixtures be like for 2014 Qualifying ?.
It's unlikely to be decided until after the 2010 World Cup. First they need to decide what the allocated number of qualifying places will be for each confederation.
Oceania (as we know it) will NOT exist for the WC of 2014. FIFA should sort out this self-inflicted mess ASAP.
For the 94 WC C-Caf (Canada) and OFC (Australia) played off for the right to take on C-Bol (Argentina).C-Caf and OFC had 1/4 spot each, different to now. OFC is the bastard child of FIFA and, for qualification purposes at least, should just be merged with AFC.
The interesting thing for 2014 will be how Brazil hosting affects things. For 2010, they decided to give CAF (Africa) 5 spots plus the host spot for a total of 6. That never used to be the case; before, they would've given CAF 4+host for a total of 5 (taking the host spot out of the normal number). So if they continue with the 2010 policy, Brazil as host should mean their spot wouldn't come out of the 4.5 for CONMEBOL. However, 5.5 total spots for that region (out of 10 teams) seems like a lot. Remember, for 2006 they originally reduced it to 4 (giving OFC a full spot) before changing it back. I would be kind of surprised to see CONMEBOL with 5.5. Given the way AFC didn't lose their spots after 2002, I wonder if FIFA might do something like give CONMEBOL only 4+host and then give the extra 0.5 to CAF.
A CAF vs Concacaf play-in sounds like fun... And the best part is that a .5 spot might make CAF completely rethink their terribly flawed qualification format.
What would you think of this format for CAF for World Cup 2014: Round 1: Two leg series to reduce the field to 32 teams. This would mean 2 games per team for the teams that didn't have byes and I would play these games in 2011. Round 2: 8 groups of 4 with two teams from each group advancing. If this was used as qualifying for the Cup of African Nations (CAN) 2014 also and the host of that tournament was top two in its group, the 16 teams that advanced to Round 3 would be the 16 teams in CAN 2014. It would require 6 games per team and I would play these games in 2012. Round 3: 4 groups of 4 with the winners qualifying. It would require 6 games per team. Especially if this started in late 2012 as opposed to early 2013, there could be enough matchdays for the four second place teams to be drawn into two pairings for two leg series for Round 4. The two losers would be out and the two winners would be each other in another two legs. The winner of that would qualify as the fifth team and the loser would play a CONCACAF team for the 0.5. The most games a team could play is 20 (2 in Round 1, 6 each in Rounds 2 and 3, and 6 in three two leg playoffs the first two being against other second place teams and the last one being an interconfederational playoff), which is how many Costa Rica and Uruguay will play this cycle. Alternatively, Round 4 could be done in one country with the four countries playing single round-robin like a World Cup group, with the first place team qualifying and the second place team playing a CONCACAF team. I don't know when FIFA will make their decisions, but I don't think it even makes sense to determine how many spots each confederation will get in World Cup 2014 until after World Cup 2010.
Just getting it all clear in my head... Current system: head to head to get it to 48 12 groups of 4 (winners, plus top 8 2nd placers advance) 5 groups of 4 (winner take all) EvanJ's proposed system: head to head to get it to 32 8 groups of 4 (top 2 advance and qualify for continental tournament) 4 groups of 4 (winners qualify, 2nd moves to next round) 4 2nd place teams drawn and playoff 2 winners playoff winner to intercontinental playoff Pretty solid. I particularly like that you determine the CAF tourney entrants before the final round. Not a huge fan of the playoff > playoff > playoff thing, but that would make for some seriously exciting battles for survival. Another suggestion: Quarterfinalists from previous CAF tourney get bye, 45 others play head to head to get it to 16 (2 rounds, additional 1st round byes depending on # of competitors) 6 groups of 4 (top 2 advance and qualify for CAF tourney, 6 3rd place teams eliminated, but compete for 4 additional CAF tourney spots on same matchdays as next round 2 groups of 6 (top 2 qualify, 3rd place playoff for right to get to intercontinental playoff) 4+6+10=20 matches (more likely 18 or 16 for better squads) Not perfect either, but I'd really like to reduce the "winner take all" aspect of CAF qualifying that creates these situations where a single stumble hoses a good team. A good way to do that is fewer/larger groups in the last round. But as you say, it's academic until they announce the allocations in a year or so.
Two points: 1) As mentioned, nobody knows what the actual allocations will be and therefore who will have half-places (or even whether half-places will exist) 2) There has never been any sort of formal rotation policy for playoffs. They're negotiated directly between confederations.
IIRC for the WC2006 playoffs, the AFC & CONCACAF agreed to their game knowing that FIFA was screwing OCEANIA on the on/off full place allocation, thus leaving OCEANIA to CONMEBOL. The FIFA confeds even refused to vote on either matter, as they were comfortable to help the Old Septic Bladder shaft OCEANIA yet again.
As far as the CONCACAF/Oceania play-offs (against CONMEBOL/AFC respectively), they should be left alone. It just "fits".
While I agree with your premise, I disagree with some of the facts. UEFA got 14 spots in 2006: Germany (host) + 13. They didn't "take it away from the whole number." UEFA has 13.5 in '02 (plus the champs, France). They didn't take the host out of the number, the overall distribution just altered slightly. UEFA has maintained 13 spots since. They had 14 + Hosts in '98, 12 + champs in '94. The number has vacillated somewhat, but they didn't take a spot away because they were hosting. The one instance where it did happen was in Korea/Japan in '02, where there were two host countries + 2.5 spots, where AFC had 3.5 the previous year. Still, 4.5 was an overall upgrade.
I have always mention that Concacaf 1/2 place maybe reduce to a 1/4 , according to this & what everybody is saying ,we(Concacaf) may end up getting 3 & 1/4 with something work out similar to 1994 World Cup Qualifying .
I think OFC being reduced to a quarter place is quite possible, if so it is likely that either AFC or CONCACAF would have their half-slot reduced as well. Maybe the leftover half would then be given to UEFA. I don't like quarter places. The more sudden death playoffs you introduce into the mix, the more luck is involved and the less fair the process is. Plus it can get quite logistically difficult when you have teams having to play home and away against teans more than one confederation.
If they keep the same qualifying format, AFC would have a third place playoff between teams in the two final groups, so if they had 4.25 teams in the World Cup an AFC team could have to play three two leg playoffs, one within AFC and two against other confederations.
I saw this coming ! people start to talk about CONCACAF 3.5 places , saying we dont deserve them, read on ....http://bleacherreport.com/articles/271360-message-to-fifa-too-much-concacaf-in-world-cup World cup playoff method : playoff similar to 1994 i.e TEAM A vs TEAM B WINNER PLAYS TEAM C . SO CONCACAF will have 3 1/4 places .
That's a poor article from 2 months ago. Let's discuss how many spots Concacaf should have after the World Cup. Thanks.
It will probably be just as pointless. Let's suppose that the US and Mexico make it through to the next round (something that should shock no-one). That would almost certainly make us the most successful confederation. CONMEBOL is the only one likely to top that. Doing that well suggests that CONCACAF deserves more slots rather than less. But people that are already arguing for reducing CONCACAF slots will argue that we got in easy groups. At this point (and I mean a longer term 'this point') I think it's silly to quibble over how things are arranged. I think the allocation is pretty decent. It will be interesting to see how FIFA decides what to do with the extra spot next year. I have a hard time believing CONMEBOL will have 5.5 teams. One possibility (and I have no idea how CAF would implement it) is that Africa holds on to an additional half spot. Asia managed to do that the Cup after they hosted. There's an interesting idea. Keep the CONCACAF/CONMEBOL and Oceania/AFC playoff, and playoff UEFA and CAF for the last spot.
It will be the success of Honduras that has any influence on CONCACAF's allocation, not Mexico or the US. Everyone knows they perform, the concerns are with the dropoff in quality after that. If Uruguay doesn't do very well that will hurt CONCACAF indirectly as well. I honestly can't see anyone picking up an allocation except maybe CAF holding onto part or all of the host sport after the tournament. AFC and CONCACAF are likely to be the losers in that situation.
I thought FIFA's rotation policy affect the intercontinental playoff fixtures . What am saying , it changes for each World Cup era ,therefore in 2006 it was North America vs Asia ...2010 North America vs South America and if it continues to rotate in 2014 North America vs Oceania , maybe.
What "rotation policy"? South Africa & Brazil were "rotated" as hosts before it was ditched by the Old Septic Bladder & his fellow criminals. As J said, NO. There's never been / not a rotation policy wrt intercontinental playoffs. They're "arranged privately" between confederations and presented to FIFA afterward.