Tomorrow night at 11 o’clock Beijing time, the draw ceremony for the 2018 World Cup in Russia will be held at the Moscow Kremlin. According to FIFA rules, 32 teams are divided into four tiers. Among them, Russia, the first seed team in the Middle East, automatically falls into the A1 position. , other teams will enter the first tier (seed team), second tier, third tier and fourth tier in order according to the FIFA world rankings in October this year.
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 qualify for the first pot this time, which also means that the “death group” will inevitably appear, and there will 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.
The Spanish team is 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 the relevant regulations of FIFA, the rules of the draw for this World Cup have changed a little. This marriage is really what he wants. When Lord Lan came to him, he just felt baffled and didn’t want to accept it. When he had no choice, he put forward obvious conditions to move. The top 32 rankings were based on the FIFA points ranking 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 national team’s final points are affected by all competition results, event coefficients, and opponents in the past four years.coefficient, regional coefficient and other comprehensive factors. Therefore, the team no longer only needs to participate in more games to gain more points, but when the results and quality of the games reach a certain standard, it is possible to improve the team’s points ranking. Teams such as Poland are using “excellence” Play” the game with a solid strategy and improve your ranking.
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, the long time passed so quickly and silently. In the blink of an eye, Lan Yuhua was gone. The day to go home. During this period, their points ranking did not rise but fell, and under the existing tiering system, they could only swallow this “bitter pill”. However, FIFA has recognized this loophole. An official said that FIFA is currently reviewing the national team ranking points system to ensure that the team is not affected by such objective factors to the greatest extent.
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 The draw will be 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 keeps ticket sales for this World Cup 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 Cannavaro 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 countries win the World Cup. Fran He represented Uruguay in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, and led 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 was something he had never thought of before.