The South American section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup held in Russia, for national teams which are members of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL). A total of 4.5 slots (4 direct slots and 1 inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament were available for CONMEBOL teams.
Two-time defending Copa América champions Chile did not qualify for 2018 FIFA World Cup after a 3–0 loss to Brazil on the final day of qualifying campaign, resulting in a sixth-place finish. As a result, following intercontinental play-offs against the record five-time OFC Nations Cup champions New Zealand, Peru qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1982.
Format The qualification structure was the same as for the previous five tournaments. The ten teams played in a league of home-and-away round-robin matches. The top four teams qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the fifth-placed team advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Unlike previous qualifying tournaments where the fixtures were pre-determined, the fixtures were determined by draw, which was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
For scheduling reasons, Argentina and Brazil were automatically positioned as Teams 4 and 5 respectively to ensure that no team has to play both of them on any double matchday. The remaining eight teams were drawn into one of the remaining eight positions from Teams 1 to 10 (except 4 and 5).
Entrants All ten national teams from CONMEBOL entered qualification.
Note: Bolded teams qualified directly for the World Cup. Peru advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Drawposition Team FIFA rankingat start of event 1 5 2 9 3 61 4 1 5 7 6 31 7 69 8 67 9 50 10 20
Schedule There were a total of 18 matchdays: four in 2015, eight in 2016, and six in 2017. +2015MatchdayDateMatchday 15–13 October 2015Matchday 2Matchday 39–17 November 2015Matchday 4+2016MatchdayDateMatchday 521–29 March 2016Matchday 6Matchday 729 August – 6 September 2016Matchday 8Matchday 93–11 October 2016Matchday 10Matchday 117–15 November 2016Matchday 12+2017MatchdayDateMatchday 1320–28 March 2017Matchday 14Matchday 1528 August – 5 September 2017Matchday 16Matchday 172–10 October 2017Matchday 18 The inter-confederation play-offs were scheduled to be played between 6–14 November 2017.
The fixtures for CONMEBOL qualification were decided based on the draw positions, as follows:
MatchdayFixturesMatchday 11 v 9, 2 v 5, 4 v 6, 7 v 3, 8 v 10Matchday 23 v 4, 5 v 7, 6 v 8, 9 v 2, 10 v 1Matchday 32 v 1, 4 v 5, 6 v 10, 8 v 7, 9 v 3Matchday 41 v 4, 3 v 8, 5 v 9, 7 v 6, 10 v 2Matchday 52 v 4, 5 v 10, 6 v 3, 8 v 1, 9 v 7Matchday 61 v 6, 3 v 5, 4 v 8, 7 v 2, 10 v 9Matchday 71 v 7, 3 v 2, 4 v 10, 6 v 5, 8 v 9Matchday 82 v 8, 5 v 1, 7 v 4, 9 v 6, 10 v 3Matchday 93 v 1, 5 v 8, 6 v 2, 9 v 4, 10 v 7MatchdayFixturesMatchday 101 v 10, 2 v 9, 4 v 3, 7 v 5, 8 v 6Matchday 111 v 2, 3 v 9, 5 v 4, 7 v 8, 10 v 6Matchday 122 v 10, 4 v 1, 6 v 7, 8 v 3, 9 v 5Matchday 131 v 8, 3 v 6, 4 v 2, 7 v 9, 10 v 5Matchday 142 v 7, 5 v 3, 6 v 1, 8 v 4, 9 v 10Matchday 152 v 3, 5 v 6, 7 v 1, 9 v 8, 10 v 4Matchday 161 v 5, 3 v 10, 4 v 7, 6 v 9, 8 v 2Matchday 171 v 3, 2 v 6, 4 v 9, 7 v 10, 8 v 5Matchday 183 v 7, 5 v 2, 6 v 4, 9 v 1, 10 v 8
Standings
Matches Matchday 1
Matchday 2
Matchday 3
Matchday 4
Matchday 5
Matchday 6
Matchday 7
Matchday 8
Matchday 9
Matchday 10
Matchday 11
Matchday 12
Matchday 13
Matchday 14
Matchday 15
Matchday 16
Matchday 17
Matchday 18
Inter-confederation play-offs
The draw for the inter-confederation play-offs was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg. The fifth-placed team from CONMEBOL was drawn against the first-placed team from OFC, with the CONMEBOL team hosting the second leg.
Qualified teams The following five teams from CONMEBOL qualified for the final tournament.
Team Qualified as Qualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA World Cup1 20 (all) (1930, 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014) 12 (1930, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1986, 1990, 2002, 2010, 2014) 16 (1930, 1934, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014) 5 (1962, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2014) 4 (1930, 1970, 1978, 1982) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Goalscorers
Notes
References
External links
Qualifiers – South America, FIFA.com FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, CONMEBOL.com