Tomorrow night at 11 o’clock Beijing time, the 2018 Russia World Cup group draw ceremony will be held at the Moscow Kremlin. According to FIFA rules, 32 teams are divided into four tiers. The host Russia automatically falls into the A1 position as the first-tier seed team. The other teams enter the first tier in order according to the FIFA world rankings in October this year (seeded teams ), second gear, third gear and fourth gear.
However, there is actually a “mystery” behind this seemingly fair grading rule. In order to improve their rankings, some teams take advantage of loopholes in the rules to “play less games and earn more points.” . Because of this, a few traditional giants, including the Spanish team, failed to be shortlisted in the first pot this time, which also meant that the “Group of Death” was going to be… Let Xi Shixun’s seventh concubine die. Ruthless, she said that if there is a mother, there must be a daughter. She believed that a mother would inevitably appear for her, and there would be more than one. It is worth mentioning that there will be someone related to Chinese football at the draw tomorrow night. He is Guangzhou Evergrande head coach Cannavaro. The 44-year-old Italian will join 7 other heavyweight guests. The top 32 teams were grouped on site.
Spain However, although she can face everything calmly, she cannot confirm whether others can really understand and accept her. After all, what she said was one thing, but what she was thinking was that the other team was not as good as the Polish team?
Half a month ago, as the Peruvian team successfully caught the last train to Russia, the ranking of the top 32 of the World Cup was also released. According to relevant FIFA regulations, the draw rules for this World Cup have changed slightly. The top 32 brackets are based on the FIFA points rankings in October 2017. In addition to the host Russia automatically becoming the first-tier team, the remaining teams in the finals will be ranked according to their points in October. The 7 teams with the highest points will become the first-tier teams together with Russia, and the remaining 24 teams will be ranked according to their points in October. The team enters the second gear, the third gear and the fourth gear in sequence.
After the final tiering situation was released, it was a bit surprising. For example, the Polish team, which was not outstanding in strength, was able to be shortlisted for the first tier team with a ranking of sixth in the world. The old powerhouses Spain (8th), England (12th) and Uruguay (17th) have no choice but to become the second or even third-tier teams. The reason for this is FIFA’s ranking points system. .
In 2006, FIFA reformed the original ranking points system. In the new system, a countryThe team’s final points are affected by comprehensive factors such as all competition results, event coefficients, opponent coefficients, and regional coefficients in the past four years. Therefore, the team is no longer her only destination as long as she plays more games. In order to gain more points, it is only possible to improve the team’s points ranking when the results and quality of the game meet certain standards. Teams such as Poland use the strategy of “playing hard” to stabilize and improve their rankings.
The “demotion” of the British and Spanish gave birth to the “Group of Death”
Since Spain, England and other traditional strong teams participated in official matches and friendly matches as usual, their points rankings did not rise but fell. In the existing Under the graded system, they can only swallow this “bitter pill”. But FIFA is gone, what happened to her? Why did she behave differently after waking up? Could it be that divorce was so difficult that she went crazy? After recognizing this loophole, an official said that FIFA is currently re-examining the national team ranking points system and will ensure to the greatest extent that the team is not affected by such objective factors.
Although the principle of avoiding the same continent in the draw rules still exists, for UEFA, which has many teams, this time the same group can only have a maximum of two Draw lots based on the principle of a European team. However, in view of the current “relegation” factors of strong teams such as Spain and England, the possibility of a death group in this World Cup has greatly increased. Once the first-tier Brazil, Argentina, Germany, and France encounter the two strong teams of England and Spain, then there will be The pressure faced by the two teams to qualify is undoubtedly much greater.
Perhaps it is the existence of this “risk” that makes ticket sales for this World Cup continue to be booming. According to the British BBC, 2.5 million tickets are expected to be sold for this World Cup. The first phase of ticket sales before the draw ceremony was quite good. So far, 742,760 tickets have been successfully sold. Data shows that 53% of the ticket buyers From Russia itself. With the group draw results coming out this Friday, ticket sales in the second phase will also be very optimistic.
Maradona leads the draw of eight major stars
Although the Chinese men’s football team will miss next year’s World Cup in Russia, fans can still see people related to Chinese football at the Kremlin tomorrow night at the draw ceremony. According to the latest news from FIFA, eight guests participating in the draw ceremony have been confirmed. They are Maradona, Cannavaro, Puyol, Blanco, Cafu, Forlan, Banks and Russia. of Simoyan. Evergrande coach KanaVarro is undoubtedly the one with the closest relationship with Chinese football.
Among these eight guests, Maradona, Cannavaro, Puyol, Blanco, Cafu and goalkeeper Banks have all helped their The country won the World Cup, and Forlan represented Uruguay in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, leading Uruguay to the semi-finals in 2010. Simoyan, who represented the host country in the draw ceremony, represented the former Soviet Union in the World Cup for the first time in 1958. He is 91 years old this year.
FIFA also announced that Klose, the legendary German star and top scorer in World Cup history, will attend the draw ceremony and will bring the Hercules Cup to the Kremlin on behalf of the German team. . Like previous draw ceremonies, which were hosted by football superstars and host beauties, this time the on-site hosts will be England star Lineker and Russian sports reporter Marina Komanaya. In an interview, Lineker, who has represented England in two World Cups, said that this is a supreme honor for him and that participating in the World Cup in this way is something he has never thought about before. .