2018 FIFA World Cup: Pots announced for final draw

New Delhi: Hours after Peru became the 32nd team to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, football’s world governing boy announced the pots for the final draw for the Russia event on Thursday.

Peru, the fifth-placed team in the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) qualification, defeated Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) winners New Zealand 2-0 in the two-legged inter-confederation play-offs.

According to a FIFA release, “it was confirmed in September, by the Organising Committee for FIFA Competitions, that all teams will be allocated to (eight-team) pots 1 to 4 based on sporting principles. The October 2017 edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be used to allocate all qualified teams to the four pots according to their ranking in descending order, after hosts Russia, who take the top seeding spot.”

However, “the principle of drawing the teams into the groups will remain unchanged,” meaning that “no teams from the same confederation, with the exception of UEFA, which could have up to two teams in the same group, will be drawn into the same group.”