The wait is almost over, because on Saturday morning we’ll find out who the All Whites will take on at next year’s Football World Cup.
The tournament, spread across the United States, Mexico and Canada, will be the third time New Zealand compete in FIFA’s show piece event and first since they went undefeated at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Tomorrow morning’s draw, taking place in Washington DC and live on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+ from 5.55am, will see the All Whites likely drawn against some of the world’s best teams.
We’re still waiting to discover the full rundown of 48 teams - 42 have so far been confirmed, with the remaining six teams to be locked in by March. But as one of the lower-ranked teams, New Zealand’s opponents will become clear during the draw.
How it happens
Next year’s World Cup will be the biggest yet, jumping up from 32 teams last time round in Qatar to 48 teams this time. The drawing of nations is not totally random.
All 48 teams have been separated into four pots, based largely on rankings, with Pot 1 made up of the three host nations and the highest ranked teams.
Pots 2 to 4 are determined by highest to lowest rankings too. Under FIFA’s rules, no group can have two nations from the same confederation, with the exception of UEFA who can have no more than two nations. Sounds complicated, but it’ll become clear as the balls are drawn out.
New Zealand slots into Pot 4 and will be drawn against one team from each of the top three pots.
Who is New Zealand likely to draw?
Given the All Whites are ranked 86th, the lowest ranked nation to qualify so far, they’ve been placed in a pot with nations who are also ranked relatively low. That means they can’t face the likes of Jordan, Cape Verde, Haiti and Curacao and will avoid four-time winners Italy (assuming they qualify through the European playoffs) as they’d also be placed in Pot 4.
Whichever way you look at it, New Zealand will draw a difficult group. There’s every chance they could face defending champions Argentina, five-time champions Brazil or the world’s top-ranked team Spain. It doesn’t get much easier when you look at the teams in Pot 2, which features some of South America’s best alongside Australia, who beat the All Whites twice in September.
What the All Whites have to say
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley can only watch on to see who his team will play at the World Cup. He’s ticked off the big milestone of getting New Zealand to the tournament, now he has the task of trying to get his team past the group stage for the first time ever.
“We don’t have a favourite,” he said. “We know we’re going to get a really big team. We’re probably going to face a team in the top 10, maybe the top team.”
Since qualifying in March, the All Whites have played friendly matches against teams ranked far higher than them, their best result a 1-1 draw against 29th-ranked Norway and a 1-0 win over Ivory Coast, ranked 42nd.
“We’re not scared,” Bazeley said. “We have had games over the last six months against Ivory Coast and Norway, USA last year and Colombia recently where we know, on our day and if everything goes our way and we perform, that we can compete and we can get results.”
Watch the draw live on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+ from 5.55am on Saturday.
Those pots again
Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany.
Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia.
Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.
Pot 4: Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, four European play-off teams, two intercontinental play-off teams
(The final four European places will come from play-offs involving Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Türkiye, Ukraine and Wales. Two other spots will be contested by Bolivia, Congo DR, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia and Suriname.)
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