World Cup B Tournament

What if  FIFA decided to run a second competition featuring the second best 32 teams in the world? Who would compete in it? What would the groups look like? Based on the qualification for the 2014 World Cup I’ve set out who the best 32 sides who didn’t qualify for the World Cup would be. What follows is an outline for an international football tournament for the 33rd to 64th best international sides on the planet.

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Qualification

Africa CAF (5 sides)

• Senegal (Playoff losers)
• Ethiopia (Playoff losers)
• Tunisia  (Playoff losers)
• Egypt  (Playoff losers)
• Burkina Faso  (Playoff losers)

Europe UEFA (13 sides)

• Sweden (Group C runners-up)
• Romania (Group D runners-up)
• Iceland (Group E runners-up)
• Ukraine (Group H runners-up)
• Serbia (Group A third place)
• Denmark (Group B third place)
• Austria (Group C third place)
• Hungary (Group D third place)
• Slovenia (Group E third place)
• Israel (Group F third place)
• Slovakia (Group G third place)
• Montenegro (Group H third place)
• Finland (Group I third place)

South America CONMEBOL (4 sides)

• Venezuela (6th place)
• Peru (7th place)
• Bolivia (8th place)
• Paraguay (9th place)

North America CONCACAF (4 sides)

• Panama (5th place)
• Jamaica (6th place)
• Guatemala (best placed side in CONCACAF Round Three qualification stage)
• Canada (second best placed side in CONCACAF Round Three qualification stage)

Asia AFC (5 sides)

• Uzbekistan (Group A third place)
• Jordan (Group B third place)
• Qatar (Group A fourth place)
• Oman (Group B fourth place)
• Iraq (Group B fifth place – best fifth place side)

Oceania OFC (1 side)

• New Zealand (Playoff losers)

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Seeds and potential groups

Seeds

The top eight FIFA ranked sides who did not qualify for the World Cup in Brazil are:

1. Ukraine (16)
2. Denmark (23)
3. Slovenia (25)
4. Romania (29)
5. Serbia (30)
6. Panama (31)
7. Sweden (32)
8. Egypt (36)

Three different sets of opponents split into geographical areas:

• Pot 2 (CONCACAF/AFC):  Jamaica, Guatemala, Canada, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Qatar, Oman and Iraq.
• Pot 3 (CAF/CONMEBOL): Senegal, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay.
• Pot 4 (UEFA/OFC): Iceland, Austria, Hungary, Israel , Slovakia, Montenegro, Finland and New Zealand.

Potential Groups

Based on keeping a good geographical spread in each group

Group A

1. Ukraine
2. Iraq
3. Senegal
4. Finland

Group B

1. Denmark
2. Oman
3. Bolivia
4. Montenegro

Group C

1. Slovenia
2. Qatar
3. Ethiopia
4. Slovakia

Group D

1. Egypt
2. Jordan
3. Paraguay
4. Israel

Group E

1. Sweden
2. Jamaica
3. Tunisia
4. New Zealand

Group F

1. Serbia
2. Canada
3. Venezuela
4. Hungary

Group G

1. Panama
2. Uzbekistan
3. Burkina Faso
4. Austria

Group H

1. Romania
2. Guatemala
3. Peru
4. Iceland

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A tournament that will have fans interested from start to finish and staying up until 4am to watch Burkina Faso versus Uzbekistan or a pointless exercise? You decide.

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