User:Mpejkrm/Sandbox/Wolfsburg 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)

The CONCACAF qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup consisted of four rounds of competition, in which the 35 member nations competed for three automatic berths at the finals in Russia.

Format
The qualification structure is as follows:
 * Preliminary round: A total of 14 teams (teams ranked 22–35) will play home-and-away over two legs. The seven winners will advance to the first round.
 * First round: A total of 20 teams (teams ranked 9–21 and seven preliminary round winners) will play home-and-away over two legs. The ten winners will advance to the second round.
 * Second round: A total of 12 teams (teams ranked 7–8 and ten first round winners) will play home-and-away over two legs. The six winners will advance to the third round.
 * Third round: A total of 12 teams (teams ranked 1–6 and six second round winners) will be divided into three groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group will advance to the fourth round.
 * Fourth round: The six teams which advance from the third round will play home-and-away round-robin matches in one single group (often referred to as the "Hexagonal"). The top three teams will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the fourth-placed team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Entrants
All 35 FIFA-affiliated national teams from CONCACAF entered qualification. The seeding – used to draw the first three rounds of the qualifiers – were based on the FIFA World Rankings of January 2015. (World rankings shown in parentheses)

Teams in bold qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Preliminary round
The preliminary round of the CONCACAF qualifiers saw the bottom 14 teams being paired up into seven home-and-away series. The winners of these series proceeded to the first round.

The matchups were announced by FIFA on 27 January 2015. The 7 winners (in bold, below) advanced to the first round of the CONCACAF qualifiers.


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First round
The first round of the CONCACAF qualifiers saw the teams ranked 9–21, as well as the seven winners from the preliminary round, being paired up into ten home-and-away series. The winners of these series proceeded to the second round.

The matchups were announced by FIFA on 30 March 2015. The 10 winners (in bold, below) advanced to the second round of the CONCACAF qualifiers.


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Second round
The second round of the CONCACAF qualifiers saw the teams ranked 7–8, as well as the ten winners from the first round, being paired up into six home-and-away series. The winners of these series proceeded to the third round.

The matchups were announced by FIFA on 11 September 2015. The six winners (in bold, below) advanced to the third round of the CONCACAF qualifiers.


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Third round
The first round of the CONCACAF qualifiers saw the teams ranked 1–6, as well as the six winners from the second round, being split up into three groups of four, to play on a round-robin basis. The top two teams in each group proceeded to the fourth round.

The groups were announced by FIFA on 14 October 2015.