FIFA Looking After the Big Boys (and Themselves) by Seeding European World Cup Playoffs
Bit of controversy in European World Cup qualifying, with the powers that be pulling what looks like a commercially motivated bait and switch with the playoffs.
Here’s what’s happened: The nine European group winners all qualify automatically. So that’s Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy, Netherlands all going to South Africa. The eight best second placed teams who qualified for the playoffs (aka Round Two) are: Russia, Greece, Ukraine, France, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Portugal, Ireland.
The original FIFA regulations indicate only that:
The 8 best Round One group runners-up will contest Round Two.
The teams will be paired into 4 home-and-away series.
The winners qualify for the FIFA World CupTM
Nowhere does it mention anything about the draw being seeded. But late last month FIFA decided that the draw would in fact be seeded. Because they can.
From the mouth of Sepp Blatter himself:
“We have decided on seeding the teams into two groups of four, taking the FIFA world rankings into account, with the top four in one pot and the others in another pot,”
Which basically ensures the likes of France (massive media market) and Portugal (massive money-pot of a player in Cristiano Roanldo) will not be facing each other in the playoffs and suddenly have a much better theoretical chance of appearing in South Africa.
The draw will take place Monday, October 19th in Zurich, and will be based on the next FIFA World Rankings, which will be released on October 16th. If those rankings are anything like the current ones, then the seeded teams will be: Russia (6th), France (10th), Greece (12th) and Portugal (17th). Those four would be drawn randomly against Ukraine (25th), Ireland (38th), Bosnia-Herzegovina (46th), Slovenia (54th).
FIFA could argue that every other stage of the process (qualification groups, actual World Cup groups) is also done according to ranking, and that they’re just making sure that the best possible teams make it to the World Cup finals.
But… Ireland keeper Shay Given made an excellent point last week, noting that these decisions should be made – and made clear – before the qualifying process begins, rather than on an ad hoc basis:
I think it’s pretty disgusting, to be honest. Before a ball is kicked, these things should be made clear. Now they change it because some of the big nations are struggling. It’s beyond belief, if you ask me.
It’s pretty disgusting because we are a smaller nation and for them to move the goalposts a few weeks before the end of the campaign is pretty poor. The smaller nations should maybe put up more of a fight because it is not fair.’
The upside here is that FIFA’s rankings are not exactly foolproof, and it’s not at all difficult to imagine a team like Ireland or Ukraine beating a team like Portugal or France over two legs come November 14th and 18th.
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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 26 comments.
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By Pedro | October 15th, 2009 at 8:06 am 
I’d even go as far as saying that if France was not in this tight spot and if Plaitini wasn’t where he is now, this simply wouldn’t happen. I can tell you right here right now, that I’m convinced FRA and RUS are as good as through. Maybe UKR the same…
I’m for PT but I can also tell you that having PT going to South Africa means big money – historical reasons, loads of tugas there, Angola, Moçambique all speak portuguese, etc… On the other hand, PT usually gets the short end of the rope, regardless…
So, I hope that WE (PT) get to go, together with Ireland – just cos I like them 
– so I hope we don’t have to clash, cos I’m pretty fed up of seeing teams that end up going through just because they defend well and are bloody boring to watch (they know who I’m talking about, cos they know who they are)…
And I also hope FRA gets kicked out by somebody… ))))
Posted from 
Netherlands
By John | October 15th, 2009 at 8:25 am “Nowhere does it mention anything about the draw being seeded.”
—-
Nor does it state the draw is free for all, better yet it doesn’t even state the qualification groups should be seeded.
—-
“Which basically ensures the likes of France (massive media market) and Portugal (massive money-pot of a player in Cristiano Roanldo) will not be facing each other in the playoffs and suddenly have a much better theoretical chance of appearing in South Africa.”
—-
To be fair it’s only by chance that Portugal got an advantage out of this, the only reason why they’re in the top seed is because Croatia didn’t made the play-off thanks to an unexpected England loss. Unless *puts on tin foil* of course, silly me, FIFA knew England was going to lose.
Having said all that, I frankly disagree with the play-off seeding the groups themselves were already seeded.
By sscouser | October 15th, 2009 at 8:48 am Sooner or later some teams will cry foul. Most teams are not sure about the FIFA Tie breaker rules. For example, Nigerians think that if they happen to tie on points with Tunisia then Nigeria will go through:
“I HAVE been inundated with messages about our sparkling chances of going to the 2010 World Cup. Among the latest “ifs” is that Tunisia would draw against Kenya and we would beat Mozambique (in Abuja) and even if we draw in Nairobi, and Tunisia win their last game, we would be at par on points, and advance on goal differences. The “head to head” regulation rules out this chance. It looks at the games between the tied teams first in untangling a tie. Technically, the Tunisians won the game in Abuja, 3-2. It was for the same reason that Angola went to the 2006 World Cup, though it drew 1-1 with Eagles in Kano after winning 1-0 in Luanda.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/10/02/fifa-be-serious/
Now read this:
“The highly contentious head-to-head rule which was applied and enabled the Palanca Negras of Angola to edge out the Super Eagles of Nigeria for the last World Cup finals in Germany 2006 has been jettisoned by FIFA in the ongoing series. This means the traditional goals advantage system will determine qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in the case of ties”
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=114345
Now is the time for teams to ask for clarification from FIFA. I can’t wait for the match between Algeria and Egypt. Some say Egypt will need to win by at least 3 goals regardless of whether or not Algeria will score a goal. Let me call FIFA for clarification.
Posted from 
United States
By sscouser | October 15th, 2009 at 9:29 am “FIFA Rankings not exactly fool proof.”
http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/how-the-final-world-cup-16-were-ranked-by-fifa.html
The current FIFA Rankings prejudge teams. The rankings only reflect a team’s potential but don’t reflect the current actual accomplishments of a team on the field. Some teams are way overrated. As long as we have the current FIFA Rankings Calculation Methods ( http://malawi.worldcupblog.org/team-news/fifa-world-rankings-current-calculation-method.html ) the top 20 will remain the top 20 for decades to come. The way it is right now, if a team ranked number 150 wins the 2010 World Cup it will not be among the top 20 on the FIFA rankings (rankings after the 2010 World Cup). Shouldn’t a team that wins the World Cup be ranked number 1? Barcelona Number 1 team in Europe because they are the current holders of the Champions League Cup?
Posted from United States
By wob | October 15th, 2009 at 10:49 am Maybe IRA will bomb Sepp Blatter…
Posted from Netherlands
By South Africa Tours | October 15th, 2009 at 11:09 am I think FIFA seem to have their own interests in mind here, which looks to me like basically more cash, lets face it, the beautiful game is big business.
By Fernando | October 15th, 2009 at 11:21 am Interesting… as usual FIFA sticks their crooked paws into the pot.
On a different issue… please put video highlights of Slovakia’s win over Poland… that was absolutely insane, they played on a frozen tundra— I kept expecting Dr. Zhivago to show up during the highlights.
Posted from United States
By yevy | October 15th, 2009 at 11:24 am “Greece – 12th”
That is all you need to know about the joke that is FIFA Rankings. Has Greece taken three points off a good team since 2004?
Posted from United States
By sscouser | October 15th, 2009 at 11:29 am “I think it’s pretty disgusting, to be honest. Before a ball is kicked, these things should be made clear. Now they change it because some of the big nations are struggling. It’s beyond belief, if you ask me” – Shay Given
Welcome to our world. Last year during the COSAFA Under 20 Tournament Malawi’s Junior Flames finished ahead of Zimbabwe with a superior goal difference and should have gone on to face South Africa’s Amajita only to be told at the eleventh hour that there would be drawing of lots. Zimbabwe went through after winning by drawing of lots.
http://malawi.worldcupblog.org/team-news/malawi-robbed-in-broad-day-light.html
Posted from United States
By Christopher | October 15th, 2009 at 4:58 pm Man this sucks! I really didn’t wanna see Gaynaldo’s face at the World Cup!
By Bawambi | October 15th, 2009 at 7:08 pm Not completely sure whether Greek question was serious but …
Slovakia 2008,Portugal 2008,Bosnia 2007,Turkey 2007,Bosnia 2006,Denmark 2005
Posted from United States
By Bawambi | October 15th, 2009 at 7:22 pm As to the CAF question: from the CAF site -
Within the framework of the combined preliminaries for the FIFA World Cup / African Cup of Nations, the regulations for determining the qualified countries for these two events are not identical.
FIFA World Cup: For the group first place, the FIFA regulations prevail.
In case of a tie in the number of points obtained in all group matches, we should consider the following in order to determine the qualified country:
1. The goal difference in all group matches, then
2. The greatest number of goals scored in all group matches
In case a tie still exists between two (2) or three (3) teams the following will be considered:
3. The greatest number of points obtained between the teams concerned
4. The goal difference between the teams concerned
5. The greatest number of goals scored between the teams concerned
–In case the tie persists a draw will be made by the Organising Committee that could be replaced by a play-off match with possible extra time and penalty kicks.–
That would mean the last paragraph if Egypt wins by 2 goals (goal difference and goals scored would tie through all 5 steps)
Posted from United States
By alex | October 15th, 2009 at 8:09 pm to tell u the truth…to play the best u have to beat the best…i mean the seeding is just for the media…if a team really deserves to go the world cup…doesnt matter who they play…i would rather beat france, portugal to get to the world cup than beat poland, san marino, north ireland (slovakia)
By Shazback | October 16th, 2009 at 3:54 am “Slovakia 2008,Portugal 2008,Bosnia 2007,Turkey 2007,Bosnia 2006,Denmark 2005″
Erm… Are you being serious?
I think he was talking about “top 10-20″ teams. So Portugal and Turkey would qualify. Bosnia? Nope. Slovakia? Nope. Denmark? Perhaps, but it’s more than debatable.
On the other hand, they drew with Mexico and lost to Brazil and Japan at the Confederations Cup 2005; lost to Ukraine, Denmark and Albania to avoid qualification for the WC2006; lost to Spain, Sweden and Russia at the Euro 2008, and during the qualification to WC2010 have already lost twice to Switzerland… I’m not even going close to friendlies and Greece’s losses against Hungary, Australia, England, France, Belgium, South Korea, Poland or Spain…
Posted from 
France
By Henrik | October 16th, 2009 at 5:14 am Shazback, Confed. Cup -05 is nothing that matters now since it is more than 4 years ago and not included in ranking points. And even the missed qualification for WC -06 isn´t matter either, because of the same reason. So it seems that a lot of the bad results from Greece you are arguing about is not important. I guess Greese hade a good qualification for both EURO -08 and now for FIFA -10.
Posted from 
Norway
By Algrachid | October 16th, 2009 at 5:34 am Algeria scored 9 and conceded 2. Goal Difference = 7
Egypt scored 7 and conceded 4. Goal difference = 3
Going by the first step, Egypt will need to score at least 4-0
By Bawambi | October 17th, 2009 at 7:00 am @ Algrachid
Sorry, the math doesnt work out like you posted. Lets say a 2-0 result.
Algeria would be on 9-4 GD 5 Egypt would be 9-4 GD 5 also Algeria won by 2 goals in the first encounter thereby tying up all other categories. Since that last paragraph is vague at best Sepp Fatter might have a new way to stick his corrupt hand into the pot yet again.
Posted from United States
By Shane | October 18th, 2009 at 6:07 am As an Irish supporter I am obviously very angry over this whole affair. We were seeded 3rd in our group behind Bulgaria and the World Champions Italy, yet we still managed to finish unbeaten and secure a playoff place. Little did we know Fifa were going to put another major obstacle in our path. The big teams have already benefited from the advantage of seeding (in groups), if they failed to take advantage of that its their own fault!
Fifa say it ensures the “best” teams get to the world cup?? The world Cups not just about the “best” teams,if it was would just be Europe and South America! Why don’t Fifa just scrap qualifiers totally and automatically put the big teams into the World Cup according to Fifa rankings?? That’ll sort out their “problem” of small teams over-performing at the expense of the “Big” nations.
I hope Ireland pull France in the draw. We prevented Holland going to the WC in 2002, we can do the same with this “lazy” French team. Its a long shot I know, but we won’t go down without a fight. Platini no doubt played a major part in the seeding fiasco so I’d love to see his face if France are beaten.
By Pedro | October 19th, 2009 at 6:42 am Hello Shane. I also hope you beat FRA. I really do. I also hope we (PT) beat Bosnia, which I do think is the surpise pack of the lot, and gets the plane ticket to South Africa…
BTW, it wasn’t Ireland who stopped HOL from going in 2002. They were fighting with us (PT) for a spot and we beat them in HOL and drew in PT.
One can argue that if we were going to play that miserably against the USA and Corea (which was the host and was completelly taken by the hand to the semis or quarters, whatever), we might as well have stayed home…
Posted from Netherlands
By Shane | October 21st, 2009 at 12:26 pm Hi Pedro,
Thanks for your support. We are even more determined to beat France now since their coach called us “BRITISH”!! I hope Portugal get through too, I like the fans and I like the way they play.
Portugal won the group for WC in 2002. So Holland had to beat Ireland in Dublin to secure a second place spot and hence playoff. Ireland beat them 1-0 in Dublin which meant Holland would miss out on a playoff place to Ireland. The Ireland-Holland game was for a playoff place. Thats what I mean about Ireland stopping Holland going to the 2002 WC.
By Pedro | October 22nd, 2009 at 4:11 am OK. Enough of HOL talking, dude… You’ve made your point.
Now go and kick FRA’s ass for the Republic (Republic beats La République), cos if WE draw in Lx (short for Lisbon for us tugas), it’s gonna be party time in Bosnia… Specially cos if it remains a draw after 90 mins, it’s extra time + penalties THERE… Who says PT was favoured with this playoff seedings of Hell…? 
Força PT!
ps – Trapattoni was Benfica’s coach some time ago. I think 04/05, not sure. They didn’t win much but they hardly lost and took the chamionship at the end, beating FC Porto… He’s an old fox. Just like Bosnia’s coach…
Posted from Netherlands
By Shane | October 24th, 2009 at 7:02 am Lol, we won’t go down without a fight anyway.
Yea Bosnia will prove a tough opponent. Although i’m pretty sure Portugal can see them off.
Hopefully Ireland an Portugal fans can party in South Africa.
Best of luck.
By Jamie | November 15th, 2009 at 5:09 pm I understand why some would perceive this to be unfair, but it actually does make a lot of sense for Fifa to seed these teams. It’d be a little ridiculous if Portugal got drawn to play France and Bosnia drawn to play Slovenia, ensuring that one significantly inferior team would go to the World Cup ahead of another.
By Brendan | November 20th, 2009 at 4:53 am Jamie you are missing the point. These teams already benefited from the seeding system in the groups whereas the lower seeded teams had to battle against higher seeded teams to prevail (finish 2nd). Now the teams whos performances belied their ranking are punished whilst those who did poorly are rewarded by being able to play lower ranked teams?! In what way is that fair it really baffles me.
If we want the best teams at the World Cup then why do New Zealand and Bahrain who are both totally gash get to play for a spot? Why can Argentina lose 6 (SIX) times in qualifying and still get an automatic place?
As it turns out Ireland went through their group unbeaten with the World champions, were drawn against the runners up in the world cup in the playoffs and still had to battle against the officials for a place.
Posted from 
United Kingdom
By TomTom | November 21st, 2009 at 4:25 pm A place we did not get. Ireland are out to some bad decisions by a ref and a linesman despite as Brendan saying getting through qualification unbeaten and been drawn against France.
FIFA are corrupt and I think everyone knows that. They are denying Ireland their request for a replay due to a blatant handball, stating that it is in their rules that a referees decision is final. But in 2006 they got Uzbekistan and Bahrain to reply in the world cup qualifiers after the ref messed up a penalty call.
