World Cup play-offs: FIFA rankings to determine seeding

Stephen Keshi
| credits: file copy

The Confederation of African Football is waiting for the September 12 FIFA rankings before making the draw for the World Cup qualifying play-offs, according to  Cafonline.com on Monday.

The draw will hold on September 16 in Cairo, Egypt.

The group leaders in the 10 groups of the qualifiers will be paired for two-legged matches each and the eventual winners will progress to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The friendly match between Nigeria and Burkina Faso on Tuesday in Kaduna will also determine how both teams will be ranked by FIFA. Nigeria top Group F, while Burkina Faso are leaders in Group E.

Nigeria are within the top five in Africa and if they maintain their ranking after Tuesday’s match, they will be one of five teams to be seeded at Monday’s draw in Cairo.

This means they will avoid the likes of Ivory Coast, Algeria and Ghana

CAF said on Sunday that a FIFA team, including of FIFA Director of Competitions, Mustapha Fahmy, and Head of FIFA World Cup/Olympic Qualifiers Competitions, Gordon Savic, would be in Egypt for the draw.

The five highest ranked teams will placed in one pot and the other five teams will be placed in another pot. There will also be a draw for each match to determine which team play host first.

The first matches will be played between October 11 and 15, while the return leg fixtures will hold between November 15 and 19.