The pairings for the two play off places will be Europe against Asia, and South America against Oceania.

This site contains a separate page for each of the six confederations and information about how the preliminary competition will be run within each confederation is shown on these pages.

MEANS OF QUALIFICATION AND FORMAT OF FINALS

As with any competition of this nature there are rules relating to the method of qualification for the finals.

Where the places in Korea/Japan are to be decided on a league basis the standings within the league shall be determined as follows:-

a) greater number of points in all the group matches

b) goal difference in all the group matches

c) greater number of goals scored in all the group matches

if two or more teams are equal on the basis of all of these criteria, their place in league shall be determined as follows:-

a) greater number of points obtained in the group matches against the teams concerned

b) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned

c) greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned

If all of the above still fail to seperate the teams, a play off on a neutral ground will be used to decide the league positions.

Where places in the final are determined by a knock out competition, in the event of the scores being equal at the end of 180 minutes, away goals will count double. If the scores after this period of time are still equal, extra time will be played and the golden goal rule will apply. If there is no goal scored during extra time, the match will be decided on penalties.

The format for the finals in Korea/Japan will be as follows:-

The first round will consist of eight groups of four teams with the teams finishing first and second progressing through to the second round.

The second and subsequent rounds will be decided through a knock out competition.