No change to World Cup spots

Football governing body FIFA has elected to make no change to the allocated qualification spots per continent for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The decision was made following a two-day meeting held in Zurich, meaning the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) keep their five spots in the world’s largest sporting spectacle despite Ghana being the continent’s only country to progress past the group stages at the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

Europe (UEFA) hold on to their 13 spots of the 32 possible, while Asia (AFC) keep 4.5, Oceania have 0.5, Central and North America’s CONCACAF hold onto 3.5 places and South America (CONMEBOL) keep 4.5 spots.

FIFA did make one change, however, announcing that Asia’s fifth-best team would not necessarily face Oceania’s best and CONCACAF’s fourth country would not be automatically scheduled against South America’s fifth team, with a four-team draw ensuring crossover between regions is now a possibility.

In further announcements on Thursday, Canada were awarded the hosting rights for the 2015 women’s World Cup.