UEFA World Cup play-offs: fixtures, dates, draw & everything you need to know

Nine European teams qualify directly as the winners of their first-round qualification groups.

The runners up in those groups are then ranked by points and, if needed, a number of tiebreakers, with their results against the last-placed team in their group discarded.

This was due to the fact that two groups were originally going to have only five teams instead of six. In the end, Kosovo and Gibraltar joined UEFA to round out the groups, but the rules were not changed.

The top-eight runners up qualify for the play-offs - with the ninth missing out - where they are drawn against another team and will play home and away over two legs for a place at the World Cup finals.

This year's draw was seeded, with the teams split into two pots according to their position in FIFA's world rankings.

This year, UEFA will also have a 14th team at the finals because Russia have already qualified as hosts.

WHEN ARE THE PLAY-OFFS?

The play-offs will take place during the November 2017 international window.

The first legs will be played between November 9 and 11 and the second legs will be played between November 12 and 14.

Exact dates for each match will be confirmed soon now the draw has been made.

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