World Cup 90 qualification

World Cup 90 qualification was a series of games to determine the 30 teams that would join hosts Baker Park and Vilita at the World Cup 90 finals.

Format
The qualification structure was as follows:
 * Group stage: The 160 qualifying entrants were divided into twenty groups of eight teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winners of each group directly qualified for the World Cup finals, while the runners-up advanced to the playoffs.
 * Playoffs: The twenty group runners-up who failed to qualify directly were paired into six two-legged playoff ties. The winners of each tie qualified for the World Cup finals.

Tiebreakers
In the group stage, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria: In the event that more than two teams were initially tied and at least one team won or lost a tiebreaker, the tiebreaking procedure would restart from the first tiebreaker for any teams which might still be tied. The same criteria were applied to rank the group runners-up, which determined the seeding for the playoffs.
 * 1) Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss);
 * 2) Points in matches between tied teams;
 * 3) Goal difference in matches between tied teams;
 * 4) Overall ;
 * 5) Drawing of lots (OOC: RP Bonus).

Seeding
Teams were seeded into one of ten pots according to the KPB ranking system, updated as of the end of Baptism of Fire 77. Teams were drawn consecutively into Groups 1 to 20, with the positions of each team in their group (for the purposes of determining the match schedules in each group) determined by a computerised draw after the conclusion of the draw ceremony.

Playoffs
The twenty group runners-up that did not qualify directly were paired into six two-legged playoff ties by the serpentine method (i.e. the best runners-up play the worst runners-up, the second-best runners-up play the second-worst runners-up, etc.). The lower-ranked team in each tie played the first leg at home. Matches that ended in a tie after 90 minutes went straight to extra time; no away goals will be considered for the playoffs.

Teams in green qualified for the World Cup; teams in yellow were invited to Cup of Harmony 82.


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