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2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group H

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The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group H was one of the nine UEFA groups for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. The group consisted of six teams: Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Estonia, Cyprus, and Gibraltar.

The draw for the first round (group stage) 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.[1][2] Gibraltar was added to the group after the draw, after becoming FIFA members together with Kosovo in May 2016,[3] and UEFA decided not to put Kosovo in same group as Bosnia and Herzegovina for security reasons.[4][5]

The group winners, Belgium, qualified directly for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The group runners-up, Greece, advanced to the play-offs as one of the best eight runners-up.

Russia was initially partnered with the five-team Group H, which enabled the 2018 World Cup hosts to play centralised friendlies against these countries on their "spare" match dates.[6] These friendlies would not have counted in the qualifying group standings. However, after the group was later expanded to include Gibraltar, these friendly matches were cancelled.

Standings

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2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tiebreakers
In league format, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7):[7]
  1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
  2. Overall goal difference
  3. Overall goals scored
  4. Points in matches between tied teams
  5. Goal difference in matches between tied teams
  6. Goals scored in matches between tied teams
  7. Away goals scored in matches between tied teams (if the tie was only between two teams in home-and-away league format)
  8. Fair play points
    • first yellow card: minus 1 point
    • indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points
    • direct red card: minus 4 points
    • yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points
  9. Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Belgium 10 9 1 0 43 6 +37 28 Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup — 1–1 4–0 8–1 4–0 9–0
2  Greece 10 5 4 1 17 6 +11 19 Advance to second round 1–2 — 1–1 0–0 2–0 4–0
3  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 5 2 3 24 13 +11 17 3–4 0–0 — 5–0 2–0 5–0
4  Estonia 10 3 2 5 13 19 −6 11 0–2 0–2 1–2 — 1–0 4–0
5  Cyprus 10 3 1 6 9 18 −9 10 0–3 1–2 3–2 0–0 — 3–1
6  Gibraltar 10 0 0 10 3 47 −44 0 0–6 1–4 0–4 0–6 1–2 —
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Matches

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The fixture list prior to the inclusion of Gibraltar was confirmed by UEFA on 26 July 2015, the day following the draw.[1][8] Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times are in parentheses).[9]

Bosnia and Herzegovina 5–0 Estonia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 8,820
Cyprus 0–3 Belgium
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 12,029
Gibraltar 1–4 Greece
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 460
Belgium 4–0 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 42,653
Estonia 4–0 Gibraltar
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 4,678
Greece 2–0 Cyprus
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 16,512
Bosnia and Herzegovina 2–0 Cyprus
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 8,900
Estonia 0–2 Greece
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 4,467
Referee: István Vad (Hungary)
Gibraltar 0–6 Belgium
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 1,959
Cyprus 3–1 Gibraltar
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 3,151
Belgium 8–1 Estonia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 37,128
Greece 1–1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 20,075
Bosnia and Herzegovina 5–0 Gibraltar
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 8,285
Cyprus 0–0 Estonia
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 3,864
Belgium 1–1 Greece
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 42,281
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)
Bosnia and Herzegovina 0–0 Greece
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 11,000
Estonia 0–2 Belgium
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 10,176
Gibraltar 1–2 Cyprus
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 488
Belgium 9–0 Gibraltar
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 24,050
Cyprus 3–2 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 4,143
Greece 0–0 Estonia
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 12,379
Referee: Liran Liany (Israel)
Estonia 1–0 Cyprus
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 5,491
Greece 1–2 Belgium
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 29,465
Gibraltar 0–4 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 805
Gibraltar 0–6 Estonia
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 750
Referee: Fran Jović (Croatia)
Bosnia and Herzegovina 3–4 Belgium
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 9,657
Cyprus 1–2 Greece
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 7,222
Belgium 4–0 Cyprus
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 37,765
Referee: Luca Banti (Italy)
Estonia 1–2 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 4,967
Greece 4–0 Gibraltar
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 12,739

Goalscorers

[edit]

There were 109 goals scored in 30 matches, for an average of 3.63 goals per match.

11 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Discipline

[edit]

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[11]

  • Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
  • Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches (yellow card suspensions were carried forward to the play-offs, but not the finals or any other future international matches)

The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches:

Player Team Offence(s) Suspended for match(es)
Marouane Fellaini  Belgium Yellow card vs Cyprus (6 September 2016)
Yellow card vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (7 October 2016)		 vs Gibraltar (10 October 2016)
Edin Džeko  Bosnia and Herzegovina Yellow card Yellow-red card vs Greece (13 November 2016) vs Gibraltar (25 March 2017)
Mato Jajalo Yellow card vs Belgium (7 October 2016)
Yellow card vs Greece (13 November 2016)
Senad Lulić
Ognjen Vranješ Yellow card vs Estonia (6 September 2016)
Yellow card vs Greece (13 November 2016)
Jason Demetriou  Cyprus Yellow card vs Greece (7 October 2016)
Yellow card vs Gibraltar (13 November 2016)		 vs Estonia (25 March 2017)
Pieros Sotiriou Yellow card vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (10 October 2016)
Yellow card vs Gibraltar (13 November 2016)
Jayce Olivero  Gibraltar Yellow card Yellow-red card vs Cyprus (13 November 2016) vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (25 March 2017)
Kyriakos Papadopoulos  Greece Red card vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (13 November 2016) vs Belgium (25 March 2017)
vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (9 June 2017)
Sead Kolašinac  Bosnia and Herzegovina Yellow card vs Belgium (7 October 2016)
Yellow card vs Gibraltar (25 March 2017)		 vs Greece (9 June 2017)
Vincent Laban  Cyprus Yellow card vs Belgium (6 September 2016)
Yellow card vs Estonia (25 March 2017)		 vs Gibraltar (9 June 2017)
Andreas Samaris  Greece Yellow card vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (13 November 2016)
Yellow card vs Belgium (25 March 2017)		 vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (9 June 2017)
Panagiotis Tachtsidis Yellow card Yellow-red card vs Belgium (25 March 2017)
Georgios Tzavellas
Konstantinos Laifis  Cyprus Yellow card vs Belgium (6 September 2016)
Yellow card vs Gibraltar (9 June 2017)		 vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (31 August 2017)
Artjom Dmitrijev  Estonia Red card vs Belgium (9 June 2017) vs Greece (31 August 2017)
Karol Mets Yellow card vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (6 September 2016)
Yellow card vs Belgium (9 June 2017)
Sokratis Papastathopoulos  Greece Yellow card vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (13 November 2016)
Yellow card vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (9 June 2017)		 vs Estonia (31 August 2017)
Axel Witsel  Belgium Red card vs Gibraltar (31 August 2017) vs Greece (3 September 2017)
Miralem Pjanić  Bosnia and Herzegovina Yellow card vs Greece (13 November 2016)
Yellow card vs Cyprus (31 August 2017)		 vs Gibraltar (3 September 2017)
Ragnar Klavan  Estonia Yellow card vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (6 September 2016)
Yellow card vs Greece (31 August 2017)		 vs Cyprus (3 September 2017)
Erin Barnett  Gibraltar Red card vs Belgium (31 August 2017) vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (3 September 2017)
Ervin Zukanović  Bosnia and Herzegovina Yellow card vs Greece (9 June 2017)
Yellow card vs Gibraltar (3 September 2017)		 vs Belgium (7 October 2017)
Yannick Carrasco  Belgium Yellow card vs Greece (3 September 2017)
Yellow card vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (7 October 2017)		 vs Cyprus (10 October 2017)
Anastasios Donis  Greece Yellow card vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (9 June 2017)
Yellow card vs Cyprus (7 October 2017)		 vs Gibraltar (10 October 2017)
Kostas Manolas
Andreas Samaris Yellow card vs Belgium (3 September 2017)
Yellow card vs Cyprus (7 October 2017)

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ CET (UTC+1) for matches on 13 November 2016 and 25 March 2017, and CEST (UTC+2) for all other matches.
  2. ^ a b c d e Gibraltar play their home matches at Estádio Algarve, Faro/Loulé in Portugal instead of their regular stadium, Victoria Stadium, in Gibraltar.
  3. ^ Bosnia and Herzegovina were sanctioned by FIFA to play one home match (against Belgium on 7 October 2017) away from Bilino Polje Stadium, Zenica due to a series of incidents during their home match against Greece.[10]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "FIFA World Cup qualifying draw format". UEFA.com. 16 June 2015. Archived from the original on 26 June 2016.
  2. ^ "European teams learn World Cup qualifying fate". UEFA.com. 25 July 2015. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015.
  3. ^ "FIFA Congress drives football forward, first female secretary general appointed". FIFA.com. 13 May 2016. Archived from the original on 16 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Kosovo to play in Group I in European Qualifiers". uefa.org. Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). 9 June 2016. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016.
  5. ^ "Kosovo and Gibraltar assigned to 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying groups". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). 9 June 2016. Archived from the original on 9 June 2016.
  6. ^ "Fixture List – Centralised friendlies" (PDF). UEFA. 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  7. ^ "Regulations – 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia" (PDF). FIFA.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016.
  8. ^ "World Cup European Qualifiers fixtures confirmed". UEFA.com. 26 July 2015. Archived from the original on 8 April 2016.
  9. ^ "Fixture List – 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition" (PDF). UEFA.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 August 2015.
  10. ^ "Disciplinary Overview - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Qualifiers (July 2017)" (PDF). FIFA.com. 27 July 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2017.
  11. ^ "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2014-16" (PDF). UEFA.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 December 2013.
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