Few things unite the diverse peoples and nations of the world like a shared love of sports. Most nations are able to set aside their differences in the name of international sports competition, whether it is the Summer Olympics, the Winter Olympics, or the FIFA World Cup.
This summer is the 2018 Men’s FIFA World Cup, an international soccer competition contested by national teams from associations that are members of FIFA.
There is a World Cup every four years. There will be 32 teams total this year, competing in 8 separate groups. When it comes to the World Cup, how do teams get placed in their respective groups? Let’s dig into the World Cup’s past and find out the truth.
Traditions of the FIFA World Cup
Early international football competitions served as the basis for the modern World Cup. Many people believe that the first truly international soccer match, between England and Scotland in 1872, took place in Glasgow.
It was a scoreless stalemate at the end of the match. The British Home Championship, the first international football tournament, had its origins in this friendly match in 1884. Growing in popularity, football (or soccer as it was known in the United States) was included as a demonstration sport at the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics.
Once FIFA was established in 1904, the sport truly took off. This group helped organise international soccer competitions that were not part of the Olympic Games. The sport was included in the Olympics for the first time in 1908, however it was considered an amateur competition. Both in that Olympics and the next one in 1912, Great Britain came out on top.
When soccer was represented by amateurs at the Olympics for so long, FIFA started looking for its own international event once more. Because of their two titles as global champions, Uruguay hosted the inaugural World Cup in 1930.
The heads of state from a number of countries were invited to take part. Thirteen countries from across the globe, including South America, Europe, and North America, competed that day. In the end, the host nation of Uruguay beat out Argentina 4-2 to claim the title of first World Cup champion.
Who is Put in What Group at the World Cup?
The World Cup is a worldwide phenomenon after years of showing the best men’s and women’s soccer teams and players. There will be 32 teams from around the world competing in the 2018 World Cup.
Russia’s capital city of Moscow hosted the 2018 World Cup draw on December 1. The World Cup seedings for this year look a little different than they have in the past.
As has usually been the case, the teams were separated into four groups of eight, and one team was drawn at random from each of those four groups to make up a group.
Only the first pot used to be based on rankings, with the eight best teams listed according to their October FIFA rating from the previous year.
The contents of subsequent pots would be chosen at random. For the 2018 World Cup, though, the seeding was a little more precise. Again, the teams were split into four groups of eight, however this time the FIFA World Rankings from October 2017 were used to determine the allocations.
The top-ranked teams were placed in Pot 1, while the other teams were divided among Pots 2 through 4. Russia, the host country, was the only team not seeded in the first pot according to their rating.
There are eight total groupings in the end, and they’re all designated by letters A through H. As in previous years, the final groups feature a relatively even number of teams from each continental confederation.