It really is getting to the business end of the qualifying phase of the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa. There are very few places left with lots of teams hopeful of grabbing a place to South Africa next year. The European section of qualifying ends with the play-offs that will be played later this year.
However the draw to determine which teams play each other is today. The play-offs are seeded to prevent the best teams from playing each other to try and ensure that all the best teams make the World Cup Finals next year. The seeding means that France, Russia, Portugal and Greece are all in pot one and can't play each other, but will be drawn against one of Ukraine, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia Herzegovina and Slovenia in pot 2.
Obviously the whole of pot 2 will be hoping to be drawn against Greece as the other options are far from ideal. The Ukraine and the Republic of Ireland will be the banana skin teams that pot 1 will be looking to avoid.
Source: FIFA.com
All eyes will be fixed on Zurich today, where the draw for the European play-offs for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ starts at 14.00 CET.
A host of personalities are set to attend the ceremony at Home of FIFA, where delegations and high-ranking officials from the eight participating nations will eagerly follow the draw conducted by FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke and South Africa international Steven Pienaar. National coaches Carlos Queiroz (Portugal), Matjaz Kek (Slovenia), Miroslav Blazevic (Bosnia Herzegovina) and Alexei Mikhailichenko (Ukraine), plus former France boss and current French FA Technical Director Gerard Houllier have confirmed they will attend in person.
Unsurprisingly, the draw has attracted enormous worldwide media interest: more than 40 accredited media representatives and ten TV stations will report on and broadcast the proceedings. Fans from all over the world can follow Monday's draw for the four play-off ties live from 14.00 CET here at FIFA.com.
The top four nations in the draw are seeded according to the latest edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, published on 16 October. France (ranked number 9), Portugal (10), Russia (12) and Greece (16) go into Pot 1. Pot 2 will contain Ukraine (22), Republic of Ireland (34), Bosnia Herzegovina (42) and Slovenia (49).
However, the ranking positions of the unseeded teams does not necessarily reflect their current form, as all four nations have claimed the runners-up spots in their groups with impressive and courageous qualifying campaigns, eliminating big-name former FIFA World Cup contenders such as Croatia, Czech Republic and Sweden along the way.
Play-off format
The play-offs will be contested on a two-legged, home and away basis. Monday's ceremony also includes a draw to determine the home and away teams in each play-off.
The team scoring more goals on aggregate wins the play-off. If the scores are level on aggregate, away goals count double. If the teams are level on away goals, or if both matches end goalless, extra-time of two periods of 15 minutes each will be played at the end of the second match. If the score is level after extra time, penalty kicks will be taken to determine the winner.
The winners of the four play-offs qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.
