Uefa amends World Cup qualifiers
The next World Cup begins in less than three years
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Monday, 25, Jun 2007 05:36
European football's governing body Uefa has amended the qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
In a change from the system used for the 2006 tournament in Germany, the European qualifying section will feature more groups of fewer teams, although the qualifying play-off system will remain.
There will be a total of nine groups - eight groups of six teams and one group of five - with each group winner qualifying automatically for the 32-team finals tournament which begins in June 2010.
The remaining four places of the 13 allotted to the European confederation will be decided by the play-offs, with the eight teams with the best records being drawn to play one another over two legs.
The form of the respective group runners up will be compared by removing the record of the lowest-placed team in each group of six so that the number of games is equal to the runner-up in the five-team group.
Uefa chief Michel Platini described the new system as an improvement, noting that the congested international fixture list would be relieved by reducing the number of teams in each group.
"It's a good compromise because I wasn't entirely satisfied with the previous format comprised of groups with seven and eight teams," he said.
The qualifying tournament begins in September 2008 following next summer's European Championships in Austria and Switzerland.