User:NotGuyFieri/sandbox MWC18Q

= Eighteenth Music World Cup qualification =

The Eighteenth Music World Cup qualification was the qualifying process which decided the 27 teams that would join Australia, Brazil, Canada, England and the United States, who received an automatic spot, at the World Cup.

The qualification process gives four automatic slots to Africa, six to the Americas, four to Asia, fourteen to Europe and one to Oceania, plus, one team of each continent is allowed to participate of the intercontinental play-off, which gives slots to three of them.

This qualifier featured the debut of three new teams, one from the Americas (Greenland) and two from Asia (Hong Kong and Macau). However, two teams, Nauru and Norfolk Island, from Oceania, were removed from the qualifier for lack of participating albums that led to their walkout in the previous qualifier. Due to that, Wallis and Futuna will also be removed from the next cup qualification.

It was also marked for notoriously strong nations failing to qualify, Norway got eliminated still in the second round after ending in fourth place in its group, Mali became the first country to not qualifiy to a world cup edition after becoming a world champion, and France got eliminated in the third stage of the european qualifier, making this cup the first in history where France didn't participate, reducing the number of full-presence countries to ten. (These being, Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Scotland, Sweden and the United States.)

The countries that qualified to the cup for the first time ever were Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Indonesia.

Africa
The african qualification happened in five stages, the first one between just the ten lowest-populated countries in africa (excluding Cape Verde, since it qualified to the world cup before), with the remaining countries only joining in the second stage.

First stage
The first stage of the African qualifications features the ten african countries with the lowest population in a singular album score match, with each winner moving to the second stage.

Second stage
The second stage consists of twelve groups of four, where the best performing country of each group gets qualified to the third stage.

Seeding and drawing
Four pots were filled with twelve countries each, with the order of filling being stabilished by: Placing in the world ranking, followed by placing in the african ranking and then, population.

Game results
The games behaved as the following: An album from each country in the duel is chosen at random, after that, both countries are compared, and the one with the highest score wins the match, if a battle is won by less of a decimal of difference (Such as 3.23 and 3.29) it's counted as a tie, but that may work as a tiebreaker criteria in the future.

Third stage
For the third stage, all qualified teams were split for a last time in two pots, organized by from which group they originally came from, and after, they were divided in two groups of five.

Game results
The games behaved as the following: An album from each country in the duel is chosen at random, after that, both countries are compared, and the one with the highest score wins the match, if a battle is won by less of a decimal of difference (Such as 3.23 and 3.29) it's counted as a tie, but that may work as a tiebreaker criteria in the future.

The two best performing teams of each group get qualified to the world cup, and the third place moves to the fourth stage.

Fourth stage
For the fourth and final stage, the third places participate in a duel together, with the winner being qualified to the intercontinental play off.

Americas
The american qualifier happened in three stages, the first one featuring only the eighteen lowest populated nations and all the others joining for the second stage.

First stage
The first stage of the American qualifications features the eighteen countries with the lowest population in a singular match, with each winner moving to the second stage.

Second stage
The second stage features the winners of the first stage plus all the other american countries.

Seeding and drawing
Five pots were filled with eight countries each, with the order of filling being stabilished by: Placing in the world ranking, followed by placing in the american ranking and then, population.

Group stage
The games behaved as the following: An album from each country in the duel is chosen at random, after that, both countries are compared, and the one with the highest score wins the match, if a battle is won by less of a decimal of difference (Such as 3.23 and 3.29) it's counted as a tie, but that may work as a tiebreaker criteria in the future.

Third stage
In the third stage, the same group proccess happens between all eight participants, this time, divided in two groups of four, with the best performing teams of each group being qualified to the world cup and the runner-ups moving to the fourth stage.

Group A is formed by the winners of groups 1 to 4, and Group B is formed by the winners of groups 5 to 8.

Fourth stage
Finally, after all the groups are done, the runner ups go on a final match to determine which team gets qualified directly to the cup, with the loser moving to the intercontinental play-off.

Asia
The asian qualifier happened in four stages, the first one only for the eighteen less populated nations participating, with all other nations joining form the second stage onwards.

First stage
The first stage of the Asian qualifications features the twelve asian countries with the lowest population (Excluding Lebanon and Singapore, since they qualified to the World Cup before.) in a singular match, with each winner moving to the second stage.

Second stage
For the second stage, all teams were split in four pots, again with the same criterias as before, but now, they were divided in ten groups of four, where the best performing teams of each group would be qualified to the third stage.

Seeding and drawing
Four pots were filled with ten countries each, with the order of filling being stabilished by: Placing in the world ranking, followed by placing in the asian ranking and then, population.

Group stage
The games behaved as the following: An album from each country in the duel is chosen at random, after that, both countries are compared, and the one with the highest score wins the match, if a battle is won by less of a decimal of difference (Such as 3.23 and 3.29) it's counted as a tie, but that may work as a tiebreaker criteria in the future.

Third stage
For the third stage, the countries were divided in two groups, one for the winners of uneven numbered groups and other for the winners of even numbered groups in the previous stage. The two best performing teams of each group get qualified to the World Cup, and the third placers move to the fourth stage.

Fourth stage
Finally, after all the groups are done, the third placers go on a final match to determine which team moves to the intercontinental play off.

Europe
The european qualifier happened in three stages, the first one only for the eight less populated nations participating, with all other nations joining from the second stage onwards.

First stage
The first stage of the european qualifications features the six european countries with the lowest population in a singular match, with each winner moving to the second stage.

Second stage
For the second stage, the countries were divided in ten groups of five, with the winner of each group being qualified to the cup and the runner ups moving to the third stage.

Seeding and drawing
Five pots were filled with ten countries each, with the order of filling being stabilished by: Placing in the world ranking, followed by placing in the asian ranking and then, population.

Third stage
For the third stage, only the runner ups moved to it, they were put in two groups of five, Group A having the runner-ups of groups 1 to 5 and Group B having the runner-ups of groups 6 to 10, with the best performing teams of each group being qualified to the world cup and the runner ups moving to the fourth stage.

Fourth stage
Finally, after all the groups are done, the third placers go on a final match, the winner gets qualified to the cup, and the loser moves to the intercontinental play off.

Oceania
The oceanic qualifier was divided in two stages, the first one featuring only the twelve less populated countires participating, with the remaining countries only joining in the second stage.

First stage
The first stage consisted of one-way matches between the countries, where the winner is qualified to the second stage.

Second stage
The second stage consisted of a four team bracket, with the winner qualifying to the intercontinental play off. To determine the matches, the countries were placed in four pots of four countries, with the standard organization method.

Seeding and drawing
The filling of the pots is based first on if the country has already participated of the cup or not, if so, it goes on the first pots with priority to the best performing countries, after that, the pots are filled based on the population of the countries.

Intercontinental play-off
The intercontinental play-off consists of one team of each continent that barely qualified to have a second chance in doing so, with that, all five teams are placed in a group where the three best performing teams get qualified to the world cup.