As you know the 2018 FIFA World Cup preliminary draw will take place on 25 July 2015 in St. Petersburg.
Of course, FIFA have not revealed the seeding criteria, but it could be the FIFA ranking yet again. FIFA have already announced the release dates for 2015. The most recent ranking at the time of the draw will be the July ranking - published on 9 July, while the next ranking would be published on 6 August.
In 2011, the draw took place on 30 July, with the most recent ranking being published 3 days earlier.
FIFA could postpone the draw by 2 weeks or postpone by 1 week and bring the August ranking publishing date forward by 1 week.
Two teams would be the most affected by such a change: Germany and the Netherlands, as their final matches of the 2014 FIFA World Cup would still be include at 100% of their value. In Germany's case only the final (2340 points), while for the Dutch the 3rd place win vs. Brazil and the penalty shoot-out defeat vs. Argentina (3144 points from 2 games).
With the inclusion of these high value games, both teams are pretty much locked in the first pot for the preliminary draw.
Edgar, you still does not explain why the publishing date could not be July 16th. Then the draw does not have to be postponed as the July ranking will still be available with plenty of time left to the draw on July 25th (as in 2011 it was published just 3 days before the draw) and the seeding for the UEFA section of the draw will be much more fair. Why is the publishing date of July 9th so untouchable ?
ReplyDeleteI don't get the argument that a ranking always should be published right after the final weekend of a continental tournament (in this case the Copa America 2015).
Because FIFA are bent on including all games from a competition in the same ranking. It's not an argument - it's what FIFA do.
DeleteOK, the publishing dates are set. It will be July 9th for the July ranking. Just complete BS, if you ask me.
DeleteBut that's what FIFA does. They don't think any further than strictly necessary. If FIFA wants the ranking to be used as some sort of proper (and credible) seeding instrument, they will have to consider creating a level playing field for confederations using the ranking as a seeding instrument, not to want to include all matches from (for the seeding purposes totally irrelevant) competitions in the same ranking, because that's really not the issue here.
Edgar and other readers, Merry Christmas and a happy New Year !