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2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
Tournament details
Dates 22 March 2015 – 10 October 2017
Teams 35 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played 88
Goals scored 257 (2.92 per match)
Attendance 1,063,536 (12,086 per match)
Top scorer(s) Guatemala Carlos Ruiz (9 goals)
2014
2022
All statistics correct as of 15 November 2016.

The North, Central American and Caribbean section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acts as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Russia, for national teams which are members of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). A total of 3.5 slots (3 direct slots and 1 inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament are available for CONCACAF teams.

In a change to previous qualification tournaments for this confederation, the first three rounds will be played as knockout rounds, with both the fourth round and the final round (referred to as 'The Hexagonal') played as group stages. The first round was played during the FIFA international dates of 23–31 March 2015. CONCACAF announced the full format details on 12 January 2015.

The qualification structure is as follows:

All 35 FIFA-affiliated national teams from CONCACAF entered qualification. The seeding – used to draw the first four rounds of the qualifiers – was based on the FIFA World Rankings of August 2014 (shown in parentheses).

The schedule of the competition is as follows.

The inter-confederation play-offs are scheduled to be played between 6–14 November 2017.

The draw for the first round was held on 15 January 2015, 19:40 EST (UTC−5), at the W Hotel at Miami Beach, Florida, United States.

The draw for the second round was held on 15 January 2015, 19:40 EST (UTC−5), at the W Hotel at Miami Beach, Florida, United States.

The draw for the third round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The draw for the fourth round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.


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