CONCACAF teams to know their fate with 2006 World Cup Qualifying draw this week

Thirty-four CONCACAF teams will know their route to the FIFA World Cup Finals Germany 2006 this week when the Qualifying draw takes place on 5 December 2003 in Frankfurt, Germany.



The qualifying campaign will kick off on 18 February 2004 with the last games scheduled for 12 and 16 November 2005; almost two years of intense competition to see who will represent the Confederation in Germany 2006.



The CONCACAF World Cup qualifying draw will have the 34 nations placed into the following six pots:



Pot A: Costa Rica, Mexico, USA (Teams that qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup)

Pot B: Honduras, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago (Teams that reached the final round of CONCACAF qualification for 2002 FIFA World Cup)

Pot C: Barbados, Canada, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, St. Vincent & The Grenadines (Teams that reached the semifinal round of CONCACAF qualification for 2002 FIFA World Cup)

Pot D: Belize, Nicaragua (Remaining teams from Central America)

Pot E: Antigua & Barbuda, Bermuda, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, Suriname (Two remaining teams from North Zone and top eight from Caribbean from the FIFA World Cup Rankings through 22 October 2003)

Pot F: Anguilla, Aruba, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guyana, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Turks & Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands (Remaining teams from the Caribbean Zone and from the bottom of FIFA World Cup Ranking through 22 October 2003)



All twenty teams will be drawn from the Pots E and F and divided into ten groups of two to play home and away series to produce ten qualifiers. These teams will then be joined by the 14 teams that received first round byes from the remaining Pots (A, B, C, D). These 24 teams will be divided into 12 groups of two to play home and away with the second round series winners advancing to the semifinal stage.



At the semifinal stage, the twelve qualifiers will be divided into three groups of four, with the top two from each group moving on to the final qualifying stage.



The final group of six qualifiers will play, home and away, from 9 February – 12 October 2005 at which point the top three will advance directly to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The fourth-place finisher will compete in a home and away playoff for one of the last berths into the event. These games will take place on 12 and 16 November 2005.



CONCACAF World Cup 2006 Qualifying Schedule

2004

Intra-Caribbean Round

18 February – Leg 1

31 March – Leg 2



Mixed Zones Round

12-13 June – Leg 1

19-20 June – Leg 2



Semi-Final Round

18 August – Game 1

4-5 September – Game 2

8 September – Game 3

9-10 October – Game 4

13 October – Game 5

17 November – Game 6



2005

Final Round

9 February – Game 1

26-27 March – Game 2

30 March – Game 3

4-5 June – Game 4

8 June – Game 5

17 August – Game 6

3-4 September – Game 7

7 September – Game 8

8-9 October – Game 9

12 October – Game 10



Fourth-Place Playoff

12 November – Leg 1

16 November – Leg 2