By Bryson Mykol
FOOTBALL–After Peru defeated New Zealand in the final World Cup play-off overnight, the qualifying session is over, and all the 31 countries who will join hosts Russia have been confirmed.
PMLdaily.com has listed the full list below and how they qualified.
1. Russia: The hosts qualified when they won the chance to host the competition back in Dec 2010.
2. Brazil: CONMEBOL round robin winners, qualified way back on March 28, 2017
3. Iran: AFC third round group A winners
4. Japan: AFC third round group B winners
5. South Korea: Runners-up to Iran in Group A
6. Saudi Arabia: Runners-up in Group B
7. Mexico: North and central America and Caribbean round 5 winners
8. Belgium: Uefa group H winners (first European team) who qualified on Sept 3
9. Germany: Sealed their place as Group C winners after beating Northern Ireland 3-1 in Belfast
10. England: Gareth Southgate’s side beat Slovenia at Wembley to secure their spot in Russia as winners of Group F
11. Poland: Poland became to fourth European team to qualify having dropped points in just two games in Group E
12. Costa Rica: Reached their fourth World Cup finals with a game remaining from their CONCACAF qualification group
13. Nigeria: Became the first side from Africa to reach Russia and have now missed just one tournament – Germany 2006 – since first qualifying 1994
14. Egypt: Mohamed Salah scored twice to send the north Africans into their first finals since 1990,
15. Iceland: Have qualified for their first ever World Cup, piping Croatia to a guaranteed place in Russia
16. Serbia: Winners of Group D
17. Spain: The 2010 champions qualified as Group G winners finishing five points ahead of Italy
18. France: Qualified as winners of Group A
19. Portugal: Beat Switzerland in their final qualification game to reach next summer’s finals
20. Panama: Reached their first World Cup after beating Costa Rica in the final group game of their qualification campaign
21. Argentina: Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick in his side’s final qualification game to secure their place in the finals
22. Uruguay: Finished second to Brazil in their group to secure their place in the finals
23. Colombia: Took the fourth and final automatic qualification spot in the South American group
24. Senegal: CAF Group D winners with 14points ahead of runners-up Burkina Faso (9ponits)
25. Morocco: CAF Group C winners with 12points ahead of Ivory Coast (8points)
26. Tunisia: CAF Group A winners with 12points, one point above DR. Congo.
27. Switzerland: Won two-leg play-off with Northern Ireland
28. Croatia: Won two-leg play-off with Greece
29. Sweden: Won two-leg play-off with Italy
30. Denmark – Won two-leg play-off with Republic of Ireland
31. Australia – Defeated Honduras in a two-leg play-off
32. Peru – Secured last place with victory over New Zealand in two-leg play-off
