World Cup 83 qualification

The World Cup 83 qualification process was a series of games to determine 30 of the 32 teams that played in the World Cup 83 finals.

Format
170 nations registered their intention to compete in the World Cup, with hosts Equestria and Banija qualifying for the finals automatically. The remaining teams were divided into 24 groups of seven teams, each to be contested as a home-and-away double round-robin.

The winners of each qualifying group directly qualified for the final tournament, the runners-up qualified for the playoffs and the remaining teams were eliminated. The 24 group runners-up were drawn into six groups of four teams, playing a single round-robin tournament on neutral territory, with the winners of each group qualifying for the finals.

Tiebreakers
In both the main stage and playoffs, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria:
 * 1)  (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
 * 2) Points in matches between tied teams
 * 3)  in matches between tied teams
 * 4) Overall goal difference
 * 5) Goals scored in matches between tied teams
 * 6) Overall goals scored
 * 7)  match at a neutral venue (only if necessary to determine advancement)

The same criteria were applied to rank the group runners-up in the main stage, which determined the seeding for the playoffs.

Seeding
Teams were seeded into one of seven pots according to the KPB ranking system, updated as of the end of the 70th Baptism of Fire; however, as there were twenty-five unranked teams in the draw, San José Guayabal were selected to be placed in Pot 6 as the highest-ranked of these teams in the SRS rankings, which determine the entrants to the World Cup’s Nation Hall of Fame. Teams were drawn consecutively into Groups A to X, 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.

Seeding
Group runners-up were seeded into one of four pots according to the results of the qualifying main stage, with the seeding determined by the same criteria used to rank teams within groups. In contrast to the usual deterministic serpentine playoff draw, teams were randomly drawn into one of the six playoff groups, 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 main draw ceremony.