World Cup 88 qualification

World Cup 88 qualification was a series of games to determine the 30 teams that would join hosts Cassadaigua and Chromatika at the World Cup 88 finals.

Format
The qualification structure is as follows:
 * Group stage: The 180 qualifying entrants were divided into eighteen groups of ten teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winners of each group and the six group runners-up with the best records directly qualified for the World Cup finals, while the remaining runners-up advanced to the play-offs.
 * Playoffs: The twelve 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 continued with the next criterion on the list, with results from all initially tied teams still included in the "head-to-head" calculation. The same criteria were applied to rank the group runners-up, which determined the six directly-qualified runners-up and 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 teams initially tied on points;
 * 3)  in matches between teams initially tied on points;
 * 4) Overall goal difference;
 * 5) Drawing of lots (OOC: cumulative roleplay bonus).

Seeding
Teams were seeded into one of ten pots according to the KPB ranking system, updated as of the end of the 75th Baptism of Fire; as there were twenty-one unranked teams in the draw, The Licentian Isles, Txakhaxi and Wight were selected to be placed in Pot 9 by the bid committee. Teams were drawn consecutively into Groups 1 to 18, 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 twelve 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.

Teams in green qualified for the World Cup.


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