FIFA World Cup 2014 is over with its highs and lows with Germany winning the 2014 world cup which is their 4th overall while Brazil got battered as the end the competition in 4th place while crowd had been great and we did not had any bad incident of note. Now the attention turn to Euro 2016 and FIFA World Cup 2018 which will be taking place in Russia in 4 years time. We take a look at some of the dates which are important as qualifying rounds draw will be taking place of different regions.
| DATE | TIME | VENUE | |
| FIFA WC 2014 QUALIFYING DRAW | 25 July 2014 | 11:00 GMT | St Petersburg |
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FIFA WORLD CUP 2018 QUALIFYING SYSTEM EXPLAINED:
around 200 Teams from 6 different confederations will be taking part in the 2 year long world cup qualifying process to join Russia in the world cup 2018 finals. Below is the detail of maximum teams taking part on different confederations qualifying.
| CONFEDERATION | TOTAL TEAMS | PLACES UP FROM GRABS |
| Asia (AFC) | 46 | 4 Direct – 1 Playoff |
| Africa (CAF) | 54 | 5 |
| North America (CONCACAF) | 35 | 3 Direct – 1 Playoff |
| South America (CONMEBOL) | 10 | 4 direct – 1 Playoff |
| Oceana (OFC) | 11 | 1 Playoff |
| Europe (UEFA) | 52 | 13 Direct + 1 (Russia Host Nations) |
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Asia (AFC) World Cup 2018 Qualifying:
First Round: 22 teams will play home and away ties where 11 winners will join 19 other teams in Round 2.
Second Round: 11 winners from first round + 19 more seeded teams by fifa will play home and away ties where 15 teams will make it to the next round.
Final Round: 20 teams divided into 4 groups of 5 teams each will play round robin format where 4 winners will automaticaly qualify for World cup while 4 runners will play home/away ties and than the final playoff where the winner will play against 5th place team from South American.
Africa (CAF) World Cup 2018 Qualifying:
It is rumoured that CAF might change the qualifying system to make sure the best teams qualifying for the world cups. But here is the details how teams from african qualifed for 2014 world cup.
First Round: Home/Away ties where First leg will be played March 2015 and 2nd legs on June 2015
Second Round (Group Stage) – 36 teams divided into 6 groups of 6 teams each where top 2 teams qualify for final round.
Final Round (Group Stage) – 12 teams divided into two groups of 6 teams each where top 2 teams qualify for world cup 2018 while 3rd place teams will play playoff match.