2018 FIFA World Cup seeding

The draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup took place on 1 December 2017 at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia [1] to determine the groups in which the 32 qualified national teams will play in at the start of the tournament. The teams were put into four pots of eight, with one team selected from each pot to form a group. The draw sequence started with pot 1 and ended with pot 4.[2]

Seeding

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All teams were seeded using the October 2017 FIFA World Rankings,[3] which numbers in brackets show, released on 16 October 2017.[4]

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
 Russia (hosts) (65)  Spain (8)  Denmark (19)  Serbia (38)
 Germany (1)  Peru (10)  Iceland (21)  Nigeria (41)
 Brazil (2)   Switzerland (11)  Costa Rica (22)  Australia (43)
 Portugal (3)  England (12)  Sweden (25)  Japan (44)
 Argentina (4)  Colombia (13)  Tunisia (28)  Morocco (48)
 Belgium (5)  Mexico (16)  Egypt (30)  Panama (49)
 Poland (6)  Uruguay (17)  Senegal (32)  South Korea (62)
 France (7)  Croatia (18)  Iran (34)  Saudi Arabia (63)

Final draw

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1 2 3 4 Total Points
Group A  Russia  Saudi Arabia  Egypt  Uruguay 2,991
Group B  Portugal  Spain  Morocco  Iran 4,128
Group C  France  Australia  Peru  Denmark 4,101
Group D  Argentina  Iceland  Croatia  Nigeria 4,099
Group E  Brazil   Switzerland  Costa Rica  Serbia 4,415
Group F  Germany  Mexico  Sweden  South Korea 4,151
Group G  Belgium  Panama  Tunisia  England 3,953
Group H  Poland  Senegal  Colombia  Japan 3,944

According to the FIFA rankings,[4] the strongest group is E (combining for 4415 points), followed by F (4151), B (4128), C (4101), D (4099), G (3953), H (3944) and the weakest by far is the host nation's group A (2991).

References

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  1. ↑ "Final Draw to take place in State Kremlin Palace". FIFA.com. 24 January 2017. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2018. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ↑ "Close-up on Final Draw procedures". FIFA.com. 27 November 2017. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 November 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ "OC for FIFA Competitions approves procedures for the Final Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup". FIFA.com. 14 September 2017. Archived from the original on 10 November 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2018. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 FIFA.com. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - October 2017 - FIFA.com". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 27 December 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)