by D. Victor

Created on: February 01, 2009   Last Updated: January 25, 2010

The FIFA World Cup began as an invitational event—with thirteen national soccer teams— in 1930. After the second World Cup in 1934, qualifying tournaments were held to distil the number of participants in the World Cup Finals. Since 1938, host nations were granted an automatic berth in the finals.

Qualification for the World Cup Finals involves the majority of FIFA's 207 member associations across six continental zones. It takes place within confederations, with each zone awarded a specific number of places. The allocations—determined by FIFA—are based on the relative strength of each confederation and even the politics of FIFA. The allocations of 31 spots (excluding the host nation) for the 2010 World Cup to the six zones are as follows:

CAF (Africa): 5 places UEFA (Europe): 13 places AFC (Asia): 4.5* places CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean): 3.5* places CONMEBOL (South America): 4.5* OFC (Oceania): 0.5* - Literally half a chance.

Each continental zone oversees its qualification process. Allocations are ratified and intercontinental playoff formats are determined by FIFA prior to each qualifying campaign. There is also an accepted World Cup Qualifying format in each zone. The zone formats for the 2010 qualifying campaign are listed below.

UEFA

The European Confederation has 53 member nations. For 2010 qualifying, all 53 members participated. Following a draw (in which teams are seeded), the 53 member teams are divided into eight groups of six teams each. The ninth group has five teams. The draw is seeded so that each group contains a similar mix of strong and weak teams.

The nine groups are settled on a round-robin, home-and-away basis. The winners of each group earn an automatic berth in the World Cup finals. The four remaining UEFA places are determined by 4 home-and-away playoffs involving the 8 best runners-up from the nine groups.

CAF

Typically, all 53 members participate in World Cup Qualifying. In Round One of CAF qualifying, the ten lowest ranking nations in this zone are drawn and paired into 5 home-and-away playoffs. The winners of each playoff advance to Round Two.

In Round Two, the 48 eligible teams are seeded and drawn into twelve 4-team groups that are settled by a round-robin, home-and away format. The 12 group winners and 8 best runners-up advance to the third round. Round Three consists of five groups of four teams each. The teams in each group play on a home-and-away, round-robin basis.

AFC

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