2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA second round facts for kids
The UEFA second round was a special part of the qualifying games for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. It was like a "playoff" round for football teams in Europe.
Eight teams that finished second in their groups during the first round got another chance to qualify. They played against each other in two matches, one at home and one away. These games happened in November 2017.
The four teams that won their playoff matches were Croatia, Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland. They joined the other teams that had already won their groups and went to the World Cup!
The teams that lost in this round were Greece, Italy, Northern Ireland, and Republic of Ireland.
The draw to decide which teams played against each other was held in Zürich on October 17, 2017. Teams were ranked using the FIFA World Rankings to make sure the stronger teams didn't play each other too early.
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Teams That Qualified for Playoffs
Eight teams that came in second place in their groups got to play in these special playoff matches. To decide which eight teams were the best runners-up, they looked at how many points each team earned in their group games.
How Runner-Up Teams Were Ranked
The best eight second-place teams were chosen based on these rules, in this order:
- Highest number of points
- Goal difference (how many more goals they scored than they let in)
- Highest number of goals scored
- Fair play points (teams that played fairly got extra points)
- Drawing of lots (if everything else was still tied, they would draw names)
Seeding and Draw
The draw for the second round happened on October 17, 2017, in Zürich, Switzerland. Teams were put into two groups, called "pots," based on their FIFA World Rankings from October 2017.
- Seeded teams (Pot 1) were the higher-ranked teams.
- Unseeded teams (Pot 2) were the lower-ranked teams.
Each playoff match had one seeded team playing against one unseeded team. The draw also decided which team would play at home first.
Pot 1 (Seeded Teams) | Pot 2 (Unseeded Teams) |
---|---|
|
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Playoff Matches
The first games were played from November 9 to 11, 2017. The second games were played from November 12 to 14, 2017. The team that scored more goals in total over both games (this is called the "aggregate score") won and went to the World Cup.
Team #1 | Agg. | Team #2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
---|---|---|---|---|
Switzerland ![]() |
1–0 | ![]() |
1–0 | 0–0 |
Croatia ![]() |
4–1 | ![]() |
4–1 | 0–0 |
Denmark ![]() |
5–1 | ![]() |
0–0 | 5–1 |
Sweden ![]() |
1–0 | ![]() |
1–0 | 0–0
|
Switzerland vs. Northern Ireland
- First game: Northern Ireland 0–1 Switzerland
- Second game: Switzerland 0–0 Northern Ireland
Switzerland won 1–0 on total goals and qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Croatia vs. Greece
- First game: Croatia 4–1 Greece
- Second game: Greece 0–0 Croatia
Croatia won 4–1 on total goals and qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Denmark vs. Republic of Ireland
- First game: Denmark 0–0 Republic of Ireland
- Second game: Republic of Ireland 1–5 Denmark
Denmark won 5–1 on total goals and qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Sweden vs. Italy
- First game: Sweden 1–0 Italy
- Second game: Italy 0–0 Sweden
Sweden won 1–0 on total goals and qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Goalscorers
In these 8 playoff matches, 13 goals were scored in total. This means there was an average of about 1.63 goals per match.
- 3 goals
- 1 goal
Nikola Kalinić
Andrej Kramarić
Luka Modrić
Ivan Perišić
Nicklas Bendtner
Andreas Christensen
Sokratis Papastathopoulos
Shane Duffy
Jakob Johansson
Ricardo Rodríguez
See also
In Spanish: Anexo:Segunda ronda de la clasificación de UEFA para la Copa Mundial de Fútbol de 2018 para niños