The 32 participating nations will learn
their fate in Costa do Sauipe next week,
so Goal is giving you the run-down on
what to expect from what promises to be
a dramatic event
WHEN IS THE DRAW?
With the 2014 World Cup kicking off in
just 194 days, the focus of the football
world is slowly turning towards the draw
for next summer's tournament, with
national team coaches desperate to find
out who their group opponents will be.
The highly-anticipated event will take
place on Friday, December 6 in Costa do
Sauipe in the Brazilian state of Bahia, a
wildly popular holiday location, and it
should make for compelling and dramatic
viewing.
The show is scheduled to start at 13:00
local time (17:00CET) and will be
presented by Brazilian actors Fernanda
Lima and Rodrigo Hilbert, with artists such
as Margareth Menezes, Olodum, Alcione
and Emicida providing the entertainment.
Additionally, World Cup legends Cafu,
Fabio Cannavaro, Mario Kempes, Lothar
Matthaus, Zinedine Zidane and Geoff
Hurst will all be involved in the draw
itself.
WHEN IS THE WORLD CUP ITSELF?
Next summer's tournament kicks off on
June 12 in Sao Paulo with hosts Brazil
already pencilled in as one of the two
participants in the opening game.
The group stage comes to an end on June
26, with the final two Group H clashes to
take place that evening.
The first games of the round of 16 will be
held only two days later in Belo Horizonte
and Rio de Janeiro, with the first knockout
stage of the competition set to conclude
on July 1.
The four quarter-finals will then be staged
on July 4 and 5, while the semi-finals take
place on July 8 and 9.
The 2014 World Cup winners will be
crowned on July 13 in Rio de Janeiro.
WHICH NATION IS IN WHAT POT?

The seven highest-ranked teams from
October's Fifa World Ranking (Spain,
Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium,
Uruguay and Switzerland) plus hosts Brazil
will all be seeded for the draw and will,
therefore, be placed in Pot 1.
Pot 2 will consist of four teams from
North America (USA, Mexico, Costa Rica
and Honduras) plus the four qualifiers
from the Asia section (Japan, Iran, South
Korea and Australia), while Pot 3 will be
made up of five African teams (Cote
d'Ivoire, Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria and
Cameroon), two from South America
(Chile and Ecuador) and the lowest-
ranked European country, France.
Finally, the remaining eight European
nations (Netherlands, Italy, England,
Portugal, Greece, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Croatia and Russia) go into in Pot 4.
It is worth noting that a maximum of two
teams from Europe will be permitted in
each of the eight groups.
Pot 1
Pot 2
Spain
Japan
Germany
Iran
Argentina
South Korea
Colombia
Australia
Belgium
USA
Uruguay
Mexico
Switzerland
Costa Rica
Brazil
Honduras
Pot 3
Pot 4
Chile
Netherlands
Ecuador
Italy
Cote d'Ivoire
England
Ghana
Portugal
Algeria
Greece
Nigeria
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Cameroon
Croatia
France
Russia
The make-up of the pots, as shown above,
mean that a 'Group of Death' consisting of
Brazil, USA, France and Portugal is a
possibility.
Another high-profile pool would be one
comprising of titleholders Spain, Asian
champions Japan, Africa Cup of Nations
winners Nigeria and 2010 World Cup
runners-up Netherlands.
On the other hand, next week's draw
could also see Switzerland, Honduras,
Algeria and Bosnia-Herzegovina bracketed
together in a group that all four teams
would no doubt relish.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Although the World Cup will be without
stars such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden),
Gareth Bale (Wales) and Robert
Lewandowski (Poland), there will still be
plenty of stellar names.
All three favourites for the Fifa Ballon
d'Or - Lionel Messi (Argentina), Cristiano
Ronaldo (Portugal) and Franck Ribery
(France) - will be present.
Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie will be
there for Netherlands, Italy have Andrea
Pirlo and Mario Balotelli in their squad,
Germany boast Marco Reus and Mesut
Ozil, Spain will take Andres Iniesta and
Xavi, while players such as Neymar, Thiago
Silva (Brazil), Edinson Cavani, Luis Suarez
(Uruguay) Radamel Falcao (Colombia) will
all be there, too.
Not convinced just yet? How about Eden
Hazard (Belgium), Yaya Toure (Cote
d'Ivoire), John Obi Mikel (Nigeria) and
Keisuke Honda (Japan)? The list goes on
and on!

TICKETS
A total of 6,164,682 ticket requests had
been received when the initial application
period ended on Thursday, October 10,
2013.
Requests were received from 203
different countries, with tickets for the
opening match in Sao Paulo (726,067
requests) and for the final (751,165) in
the Maracana stadium on July 13 proving
the most popular.
A total of 889,305 tickets were allocated
to people from 188 countries during the
random selection draw for the first phase
of sales, while the remaining tickets
available in the First Come First Served
period (a total of nearly 1.1 million
tickets) were sold out only seven hours
after the window re-opened.


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