Soccer-2018 World Cup qualifying draw

ST PETERSBURG, July 24 (Reuters) - Factbox on the 2018 World Cup qualifying competition draw which will take place in St Petersburg on Saturday (1500 GMT): BACKGROUND Thirty-two teams will take part at the 2018 World Cup. Hosts Russia qualify automatically and the others battle through a qualifying competition which involves 851 matches and takes two years and eight months to complete. The competition is divided up by continent; 13 teams qualify from Europe, five from Africa, three or four from CONCACAF, four or five from South America, four or five from Asia and none or one from Oceania. The exact number per continent depends on the outcome of two intercontinental playoffs, each staged over two legs, at the end of the competition. Each continent uses a different format. FIFA has 209 member associations and all entered a team, although Indonesia and Zimbabwe were disqualified before playing due to off-the-field issues. The Asian and CONCACAF competitions have started and 22 teams have already been eliminated. Brazil are the only team to have played at every World Cup. SOUTH AMERICA The 10 teams play each other home-and-away in a single group, starting on Sept 4. The top four qualify for the World Cup and the fifth-placed team go into an intercontinental playoff. Only the order of teams will be drawn on Saturday, a technical exercise which will affect the fixture list. AFRICA Fifty-four teams were due to take part but Zimbabwe were disqualified. The 26-lowest ranked teams enter in the first round, which consists of 13 two-leg home-and-away ties played from Oct. 5-13. The winners join the remaining 27 teams in the second stage, which is again played on a knockout basis with each tie played over two legs from Nov. 9-17. The 20 winners go into the third round where they are divided into five groups of four and the winners of each group qualify for the World Cup. The draw for the first and second rounds will be made on Saturday. ASIA The Asian qualifying competition is already into its second phase. There are 46 entrants and the 12 lowest-ranked sides took part in the first stage, organised on a knockout basis with ties played over two legs, home and away. The six winners joined the remaining 34 teams in the second phase, which consists of eight groups of five. This phase started in June and will finish on March 29. Group F has been reduced to four teams after Indonesia were expelled. The eight group winners and four best runners-up go into the third phase where teams are divided into two groups of six. The top two in each group qualify for the World Cup. The third-placed teams play off against each other over two legs and the winners of that tie qualify for an inter-continental playoff. No draw will be made on Saturday. CONCACAF Thirty-five participants. The first two stages have already been played. The first stage featured the lowest-ranked 14 teams in two-leg knockout ties. Thirteen more teams joined the seven winners in the second stage, which was played on the same basis. The 10 teams who qualified will be joined by Jamaica and Haiti for the third round, again played in a knockout format from Aug. 31-Sept. 8. The six winners qualify for the fourth round along with the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago who receive a bye. This consists of three groups of four and the top two qualify for the fifth round. The final round is played as a six-team mini-league. The top three qualify for the World Cup and the fourth goes into an inter-continental playoff. Stages three and four will be drawn on Saturday. EUROPE Fifty-two European teams take part and are divided into seven groups of six and two of five. The nine group winners qualify for the World Cup and the eight best runners-up take part in two-leg playoffs for four more places. Gibraltar, who are members of UEFA but not FIFA, are not involved. Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, England, Romania, Wales and Croatia are the top seeds meaning that none of them can be drawn in the same group. This has opened up the possibility of Germany facing France or Italy in the qualifying stage. OCEANIA Eleven teams take part. In the first round, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga will play a round-robin group at a single venue and the winners qualify for round two. The remaining seven teams enter in round two and are divided into two groups of four, with the top three progressing to round three. This consists of two groups of three, with the top team in each progressing to a two-leg playoff. The playoff winners qualify for the intercontinental playoff. Round two will be drawn on Saturday. INTERCONTINENTAL PLAYOFFS Two ties, each played over two legs, take place in November 2017 with the winners qualifying for the World Cup. The teams involved are the fifth-placed side from South America, fourth-placed team from CONCACAF and Asia and the Oceania winners. The pairings will be drawn on Saturday. (Compiled by Brian Homewood, editing by Ed Osmond)