2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) facts for kids

     Teams that qualified     Teams that might qualify     Teams that did not qualify

The UEFA 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tournament was held from 4 September 2016 and 14 November 2017 and was used to determine which European teams will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Robert Lewandowski was the top scorer, with 16 goals.

First round

The first round consisted of 9 groups made up of 6 teams each. The winners of each group directly qualified for the world cup, while the best runners-up moved on to the second round. The draw occurred on 25 July 2015 in Saint Petersburg.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Moves on to
1	France	10	7	2	1	18	6	+12	23	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup
2	Sweden	10	6	1	3	26	9	+17	19	Second round
3	Netherlands	10	6	1	3	21	12	+9	19
4	Bulgaria	10	4	1	5	14	19	-5	13
5	Luxembourg	10	1	3	6	8	26	–18	6
6	Belarus	10	1	2	7	6	21	–15	5

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Moves on to
1	Portugal	10	9	0	1	32	4	+28	27	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup
2	Switzerland	10	9	0	1	23	7	+16	27	Second round
3	Hungary	10	4	1	5	14	14	0	13
4	Faroe Islands	10	2	3	5	4	16	-12	9
5	Latvia	10	2	1	7	7	18	–11	7
6	Andorra	10	1	1	8	2	23	–21	4

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Moves on to
1	Germany	10	10	0	0	43	4	+39	30	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup
2	Northern Ireland	10	6	1	3	17	6	+11	19	Second round
4	Czech Republic	10	4	3	3	17	10	+7	15
5	Norway	10	4	1	5	17	16	+1	13
5	Azerbaijan	10	3	1	6	10	19	–9	10
6	San Marino	10	0	0	10	2	51	–49	0

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Moves on to
1	Serbia	10	6	3	1	20	10	+10	21	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup
2	Republic of Ireland	10	5	4	1	12	6	+6	19	Second round
3	Wales	10	4	5	1	13	6	+7	17
4	Austria	10	4	3	3	14	12	+2	15
5	Georgia	10	0	5	5	8	14	–6	5
6	Moldova	10	0	2	8	4	23	–19	2

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Moves on to
1	Poland	10	8	1	1	28	14	+14	25	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup
2	Denmark	10	6	2	2	20	8	+12	20	Second round
3	Montenegro	10	5	1	4	20	12	+8	16
4	Romania	10	3	4	3	12	10	+2	13
5	Armenia	10	2	1	7	10	26	–16	7
6	Kazakhstan	10	0	3	7	6	26	–20	3

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Moves on to
1	England	10	8	2	0	18	3	+15	26	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup
2	Slovakia	10	6	0	4	17	7	+10	18
3	Scotland	10	5	3	2	17	12	+5	18
4	Slovenia	10	4	3	3	12	7	+5	15
5	Lithuania	10	1	3	6	7	20	–13	6
6	Malta	10	0	1	9	3	25	–22	1

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Moves on to
1	Spain	10	9	1	0	36	3	+33	28	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup
2	Italy	10	7	2	1	21	8	+13	23	Second round
3	Albania	10	4	1	5	10	13	-3	13
4	Israel	10	4	0	6	10	15	-5	12
5	Macedonia	10	3	2	5	15	15	0	11
6	Liechtenstein	10	0	0	10	1	39	–38	0

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Moves on to
1	Belgium	10	9	1	0	43	6	+37	28	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup
2	Greece	10	5	4	1	17	6	+11	19	Second round
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10	5	2	3	24	13	+11	17
4	Estonia	10	3	2	5	13	19	–6	11
5	Cyprus	10	3	1	6	9	18	-9	10
6	Gibraltar	10	0	0	10	3	47	–44	0

Group I

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Moves on to
1	Iceland	10	7	1	2	16	7	+9	22	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup
2	Croatia	10	6	2	2	15	4	+11	20	Second round
3	Ukraine	10	5	2	3	13	9	+4	17
4	Turkey	10	4	3	3	14	13	+1	15
5	Finland	10	2	3	5	9	13	–4	9
6	Kosovo	10	0	1	9	3	24	–21	1

Ranking of runners-up

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Moves on to
1	Switzerland	10	9	0	1	23	7	+16	27	Second round
2	Italy	10	7	2	1	21	8	+13	23
3	Denmark	10	6	2	2	20	8	+12	20
4	Croatia	10	6	2	2	15	4	+11	20
5	Sweden	10	6	1	3	26	9	+17	19
6	Northern Ireland	10	6	1	3	17	6	+11	19
7	Greece	10	5	4	1	17	6	+11	19
8	Republic of Ireland	10	5	4	1	12	6	+6	19
2	Slovakia	10	6	0	4	17	7	+10	18

Second round

The best runners-up from the first round qualified for the second round. The draw occurred on 17 October 2017 in Zurich. The teams who win these matches will finally qualify for the world cup.

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
Northern Ireland	0–1	Switzerland	0–1	0–0
Croatia	4–1	Greece	4–1	0–0
Denmark	5–1	Republic of Ireland	0–0	5–1
Sweden	1–0	Italy	1–0	0–0

Qualified teams

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on
Belgium	Group H winners	3 September 2017
Croatia	Second round winners	12 November 2017
Denmark	Second round winners	14 November 2017
England	Group F winners	5 October 2017
France	Group A winners	10 October 2017
Germany	Group C winners	5 October 2017
Iceland	Group I winners	9 October 2017
Poland	Group E winners	8 October 2017
Portugal	Group B winners	10 October 2017
Russia	Host	2 December 2010
Serbia	Group D winners	9 October 2017
Spain	Group G winners	6 October 2017
Sweden	Second round winners	13 November 2017
Switzerland	Second round winners	12 November 2017

See also

In Spanish: Clasificación de UEFA para la Copa Mundial de Fútbol de 2018 para niños