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CONCACAF qualifying schedule to be approved
Concacaf's FIFA world cup 2006 qualifying path has been decided upon and has been submitted for approval to FIFA. After a few possible qualifying systems were presented publicly on their website and thorugh various other medias, a final system has been decided upon and published this past Tuesday.
The new system sees the 20 nations that failed to progressed to the semi finals of the 2002 qualification paired off to play in a home and away series, determining the 10 progressing nations. These countries will progress along with Belize and Nicaragua.
The 10 victorious countries along with Belize and Nicaragua will be placed in a pot while the 12 semi finalist nations from the 2002 qualification will be placed in a second pot. A Pot A team will be drawn against a Pot B team to determine the 12 groups of two to play in a home and away series.
The teams that automatically qualify for Pot B are as follow: Barbados, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, United States.
The winners of these 12 groups of two will progress and be drawn into three groups of four. This will be the semi-final round of the qualification system. It will consist of a home and away competition with each team playing six matches in total.
The winners and runners up of each group will qualify for the final group stage. This will be a home and away format like the semi-final stage with each team playing a total of ten games. The top three nations will qualify for the world cup in Germany while fourth place will be entered into a playoff against a team from a yet to be determined confederation.
The system is to be approved by FIFA prior to the world cup qualifying draw to take place early December this year.
8 November, 2003 |
