World Cup 83

World Cup 83 was an international football tournament held in Equestria and Banija. It was the fifth time that the competition was co-hosted by Equestria, and the second edition to be held in Banija. The theme of the tournament was Reconciliation, helping bring together the two Southwestern Atlantian Oceanian nations in the aftermath of the Banijan-Equestrian War.

Vilita entered the tournament as defending champions, but were eliminated in the quarterfinals by hosts Banija. Hosts and first-time finalists Equestria defeated five-time champions Starblaydia 4-3 in the final at Royal Equestria Stadium in Canterlot, becoming the forty-third nation to win the tournament, the first team to win the tournament at their home stadium since Valanora at World Cup 61, and only the third nation to win their first title on home soil (joining Europa Britannia at World Cup 9 and Casari at World Cup 29).

Host selection
The first proposed bid for the 83rd World Cup was unveiled by Drawkland. Nicknamed "The Incredible Evil", the bid made a number of innovative proposals that were, remarkably, well within the rules. These included the following:
 * The first nation to respond to the bid would be the co-host (this ended up being Saltstead);
 * Qualification through six round-robin groups, one triple-elimination bracket group, with the rest of the entrants playing a Casaran system. Of the round-robin groups, each would have assigned to them one of the following rule variations:
 * Beach soccer;
 * No draws, with all matches going to extra time and penalties if necessary;
 * All players to wear gridiron football equipment;
 * Standings decided by reversed tiebreaker criteria - away goals scored, head-to-head goal difference, goals scored, goal difference, points;
 * All matches to be held during rain;
 * One team randomly assigned to have its top scorer play for another random team in the group;
 * During the finals, the third-place playoff was to be held according to sevenball rules.

The second bid, nicknamed "Reconciliation", was unveiled by Equestria and Banija nine days later, which proposed a traditional round-robin qualifying format, albeit with fewer matchdays and more rest days than previous World Cup qualifying tournaments.

While the bid was not withdrawn and Drawkland stated their full intention to carry out the bid as described in the unlikely event that it won, the Incredible Evil bidders both endorsed the Reconciliation bid. The World Cup Committee (minus the bidding nations, who where ineligible to vote) voted decisively to back the Reconciliation bid 25-4, with one abstention and three votes to re-open bids.

Teams
Thirty teams qualified for the World Cup from the 168 teams entering the qualifying phase. The two co-hosts qualified automatically. KPB ranks at the beginning of the qualification round are shown in brackets.

Qualification
Group winners qualified for the World Cup. Second-place teams advanced into a playoff round with six groups of four teams. Participants in Cup of Harmony 75 are highlighted in magenta.

Playoff stage
Each playoff group was hosted in one country, with each team playing one match against others in its group. Group winners qualified for the World Cup.

Knockout rounds

 * Due to differences in national calendars, all dates are OOC unless otherwise noted.