DRAW: 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP CONCACAF QUALIFICATION

CONCACAF

The zone has 35 representatives. Only 3 will surely qualify directly for the World Cup 2018. The fourth placed member will face the fourth best from Asia to compete for their place in Russia.

The Round 1 games were completed in March 2015 between 14 teams and 7 advanced to the second round. In the second round, 20 teams played each other to narrow the number down to a further 10. IN Round 3, another 2 teams join the 10 and they went into 2 pots to be drawn against each other.

The winners will go into two groups in Round 4 where 6 og the top seeded teams are already drawn in the 2 groups, 3 in each. The Round 4 of games are to be played between 7 November 2015 to 6 September 2016.

Round 1

The 14 lowest-ranked Participating Member Associations (PMAs), PMA Rank 22 through to PMA Rank 35 (based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of August 2014), will contest Round One.Round 2

The 7 Round One winners will then join the 13 PMAs ranked 9 to 21 in Round Two.

The 20 teams will be paired into 10 home-and-away series.
The 10 series winners advance to Round Three.Round 3

The 10 Round Two winners will then join the 2 PMAs ranked seven and eight in Round Three.

The 12 teams will be paired into 6 home-and-away series.

The 6 series winners advance to Round Four.

Round 4

The 6 teams qualifying from Round Three will then join the 6 PMAs ranked one to six in Round Four.

The 12 teams will be drawn into three round-robin, home-and-away groups of four teams each.
The group winners and runners-up of each group advance to Round Five.

Round 5
The 6 teams qualifying from Round Four will take part in Round Five.
The 6 teams will be placed into one round-robin, home-and-away group of six teams.
The fourth placed team advances to the intercontinental play-off.
The top three placed teams will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™.

Play-off:

The 2 teams will be paired into 1 home-and-away series.
The 2 PMAs participating in the CONCACAF-Asian Zone play-off will meet each other home and away.
The winner will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™.
The three teams qualified from Round 5 and the winners of the intercontinental play-off.