Talk:1998 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA second round

Playoff Seeding Not Likely Based on FIFA Ranking
The article says the UEFA qualification playoff draw was based on the September 1997 FIFA World Rankings. But this is very unlikely because the actual rankings do not correspond with the stated pot division. For example, of the eight teams, Italy and Russia ranked the highest but somehow ended up playing each other. It is more likely FIFA opted for a random unseeded draw to determine the pairings.

According to the September 1997 FIFA World Rankings, these were the following rankings:

If the draw were indeed based on the September 1997 rankings, then the pot division would have resembled the table below:

-- Thedefenceman (talk) 03:26, 16 January 2017 (UTC)