CONCACAF confirmed today that the draw for the Final Round of CONCACAF Qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 will take place on Friday, July 8, at CONCACAF headquarters on Miami Beach at 10 am ET. The draw will determine the schedule of matches for the six-team, round-robin qualifying round known as the “Hexagonal.”
One team, Mexico, has secured its place in the final round of qualifying, while 10 other teams, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States remain in contention from the twelve-team semifinal round. Play will resume on September 2 and 6 for the last two decisive match dates.
Two pots will be utilized for the final round draw. The first pot (“Teams”), will contain six balls for the teams. Because the identity of the first and second place teams in each of the groups is yet to be confirmed, the balls will be labelled A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. A1, B1 and C1 will correspond to the team finishing first in the semi-final round group, while A2, B2 and C2 will be the runner-up in each group.
Pot two (“Positions”) will contain six balls with the positions in the round-robin final group. Those will be labelled with positions 1-6.
The draw will begin with the selection of one ball from the “Teams” pot, followed by the corresponding ball from the “Positions” pot. The team which is drawn will be assigned the position denominated on the ball that is drawn immediately after. All six teams and position will be drawn with the same, straight-forward procedure.
Media members and fans will be able to watch the draw live on CONCACAF.com and on the Confederation’s Official Facebook page.
The calendar of the final qualifying round will be the following:
Match day 1 (November 7-15, 2016)
- Team 1 vs. Team 5
- Team 3 vs. Team 2
- Team 6 vs. Team 4
Match day 2 (November 7-15, 2016)
- Team 4 vs. Team 1
- Team 2 vs. Team 5
- Team 3 vs. Team 6
Match day 3 (March 20-28, 2017)
- Team 1 vs. Team 3
- Team 6 vs. Team 2
- Team 5 vs. Team 4
Match day 4 (March 20-28, 2017)
- Team 2 vs. Team 1
- Team 3 vs. Team 4
- Team 6 vs. Team 5
Match day 5 (June 5-13, 2017)
- Team 1 vs. Team 6
- Team 4 vs. Team 2
- Team 5 vs. Team 3
Match day 6 (June 5-13, 2017)
- Team 5 vs. Team 1
- Team 2 vs. Team 3
- Team 4 vs. Team 6
Match day 7 (August 28 – September 5, 2017)
- Team 1 vs. Team 4
- Team 5 vs. Team 2
- Team 6 vs. Team 3
Match day 8 (August 28 – September 5, 2017)
- Team 3 vs. Team 1
- Team 2 vs. Team 6
- Team 4 vs. Team 5
Match day 9 (October 2-14, 2017)
- Team 1 vs. Team 2
- Team 4 vs. Team 3
- Team 5 vs. Team 6
() Match day 10 (October 2-14, 2017)
- Team 6 vs. Team 1
- Team 2 vs. Team 4
- Team 3 vs. Team 5
() simultaneous kick-off
