A general view shows the Otkrytie Arena stadium in Moscow, Russia, in this file photo. The 2018 World Cup’s preliminary draw will be held in St. Petersburg today.

 

DPA/St Petersburg


The 2018 World Cup in Russia will move step closer when teams from five of FIFA’s six confederations learn their opponents in qualifying in the preliminary draw today.
Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium was meanwhile confirmed as host for both the opening match and final of the 2018 World Cup, with match schedules unveiled for both the World Cup and the 2017 Confederations Cup.
The Zenit Arena in Saint Petersburg hosts the first World Cup semi-final on July 10 and the third-place match on July 14. Quarter-finals are in Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Sochi.
Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium and Spartak Stadium host Round of 16 matches, along with Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, St Petersburg, Samara and Sochi.
Ekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Saransk and Volgograd are cities only hosting group-stage matches.
Russia, allocated as team A1, will play in the opening match on June 14.
A total of 141 of 206 FIFA members go into Saturday’s draw at the Constantine Palace in St Petersburg at 6 pm (1500 GMT).
Only the Asian confederation is not affected as its respective qualifying campaigns are already underway.
Hosts Russia are automatically qualified as one of 32 finalists while Zimbabwe and Indonesia are disqualified for violating FIFA statutes.  Gibraltar, now playing in 2016 European Championship qualifiers, is not a FIFA member and therefore not included in the draw.
Draw procedures for each confederation:
Africa (5 World Cup finalists):
The 26 lowest-ranked participating associations from the region will contest a first round of play-offs over two legs. The winners advance to round two to join the 27 remaining highest-ranked teams in another two-legged play-off. The winners advance to the final qualifying round of five groups of four teams. The group winners qualify for Russia.

Asia (4 or 5 World Cup finalists):
Qualifying has already started. Twelve of 40 teams go through the second round, now being played, into two groups of six. The top two in each group qualify. The third-placed teams in each group play against each other, with the winner going into an intercontinental play off.
Europe (14 World Cup finalists):
Teams will go into seven group of six and two groups of five, with seeded teams chosen on FIFA’s current rankings. The nine group winners qualify. The eight best runners-up go into play-offs for the remaining places. Russia is automatically qualified.
North, Central America and the Caribbean (3 or 4 World Cup finalists):
Ten of 24 teams have gone through the first two rounds. Haiti and Jamaica join for the third round. Six teams advance via play-offs to a fourth round to join the six top-ranked teams, who are drawn into three groups of four. The top two of each group enter a final round in which the top three qualify for Russia. The fourth goes into an intercontinental play-off.

Oceania (0 or 1 finalist):
America Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga contest a first round with the winner joining seven teams. The eight teams will be drawn into two groups of four. The top three from each group advance to round three, to be drawn into two groups of three. The winners then meet in a play-off, with the winner advancing to the intercontinental play-off.

South America (4 or 5 finalists):
All 10 teams of the confederation play against each other in one group, with the top four qualifying directly. The team finishing fifth goes into an intercontinental play-off. To ensure that no team has to play both Argentina and Brazil on any double matchday, these teams have been seeded and automatically positioned as Team 4 and Team 5 respectively.
A draw will also determine which confederations are paired together in the play-offs.
The eight-team Confederations Cup will meanwhile be staged between June 17 and July 2 in Kazan, Moscow (Spartak Stadium), St Petersburg and Sochi. Russia as hosts will be joined by world champions Germany, Asian Cup winners Australia, and Copa America champions Chile as teams already qualified.
The CONCACAF representative will be decided for the first time by a play-off on October 9 between the 2013 Gold Cup champions United States and 2015 champions Jamaica or Mexico, the winners of the 2016 Africa Cup of Nations, the winners of Euro 2016 and the winners of Oceania’s 2016 OFC Nations Cup.