Fifa, Blatter set troubles aside, preside over World Cup draw

FIFA put its problems to one side and began the countdown to the 2018 World Cup finals on Saturday when Russian president Vladimir Putin and FIFA chief Sepp Blatter re-assured the nation the tournament would go ahead as planned.

Blatter confirmed that Russia would stage the tournament, saying that the FIFA executive committee had “full trust and confidence”. Putin told the global audience that “Russia will be fantastic hosts.”

Putin also pledged to host a World Cup – in a country where racism is rife at soccer matches – promising both domestic and foreign players and fans would feel at home at a “grandiose international sporting festival”.

All 209 FIFA members registered to take part in the finals, and although 22 teams have already been eliminated, 851 matches will be played over the next 32 months to establish the 31 teams who will join Russia at the tournament in June 2018.

World champion Germany was handed a kind draw when it was placed in the same group as the Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Norway, Azerbaijan and San Marino.

There was ironic laughter when Oliver Bierhoff, general manager of the German national team, drew his country out of the bowl.

“I’m pleased we avoided Spain or Italy, but I am sure all the top teams will go through,” Bierhoff said.

Among some of the more eye- catching European pairings was England being drawn with Scotland, the old rivals who played the world’s first international in 1872.

Cameroon, the first African country to make a major impact in the World Cup when they reached the quarter-finals in 1990, must negotiate a tricky two-leg knockout tie against Somalia or Niger at the start of their campaign.

South Sudan, who joined FIFA in 2012, will face Mauritania in their first-ever qualifier. The winners play Tunisia in the second round.