With the World Cup now in its second round of group fixtures, eyes are turning towards qualification into the knockout rounds of the tournament.
The top two teams in each group progress to form a round of 16. But there can be quite a complicated method to work out which teams go through if they finish level on points.
Here, we take a look at how qualification is decided for teams who finish level on points...
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1. Group points
Does what it says on the tin. If the top two teams have more points than the other two sides in the group, they go through to the round of 16. Simple as that.
2. Goal difference
Some competitions prefer a head-to-head record, but in the World Cup, the second criteria falls on goal difference. That is worked out by taking the total number of goals scored and subtracting the number of goals conceded. The team with the highest goal difference will be ranked higher in the group.
3. Goals scored
Next up, if the points and the goal difference are all even, goals scored is the deciding factor. That means the team who has scored the most goals throughout the group stage will progress. Pretty straight forward so far.
4. Head-to-head record
OK, a little more tricky, we then move on to head-to-head record, working it out with the following method...
If two teams identical – Whoever won the match between the two teams during the group stage.
If three teams identical – As you can't just use an individual result from one match, you have to, in effect, create a mini league between the three teams involved. The mini league is decided by points one to three above.
If four teams identical – They cannot be separated on head-to-head record. Then we move on to point five...
5. Fair play record
If the teams cannot be separated by points one to four, then we get down to fair play record. That is worked out by the following method:
- Yellow card: minus 1 point
- Indirect red card: minus 3 points
- Direct red card: minus 4 points
- Yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points
The team left with the highest number of points is ranked higher in the group.
6. Draw lots
The last straw is to draw lots.
It is essentially a random draw which is carried out by a member of the World Cup organising committee who is not from one of the countries involved in the tie break.
Basically, it comes down to the luck of the draw, quite literally, at this stage.
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