The UEFA play-offs draw will be held in Zurich on Tuesday, October 17 (time TBC) – and the Republic of Ireland will be among eight teams in the mix after winning on their do-or-die trip to Wales on Monday night.The four teams with the highest FIFA rankings will be seeded.UEFAAlready qualified automatically (7 of 9): Germany, Serbia, Poland, England, Spain, Belgium, IcelandAssured of play-off (5 of 8):Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Italy, CroatiaThat leaves only two more automatic berths up for grabs. France are in pole position to take Group A, and need only beat Belarus in Paris on Tuesday night to confirm their spot. Sweden currently trail them by a point, and will likely take a place in the play-offs barring a Bleus collapse (or a 13-goal swing in defeat to the Netherlands, which is the only way the Oranje are going through).Group B is a straight shootout between Portugal and Switzerland, who face each other in Lisbon on Tuesday. The Swiss boast a 100% record in qualifying, meaning they take a three-point advantage into the final game and only need a point to top the group. Portugal have a superior goal difference, however, so victory for CristianoRonaldo Co. would see them leapfrog their rivals.In Group H,GreeceandBosniaare battling it out for the final play-off slot. The former hold a two-point advantage going in their final game againstr Gibraltar, who are pointless with a -40 goal difference from their nine matches so far. Bosnia travel to Estonia. CONMEBOLAlready qualified automatically (1 of 4):BrazilAssured of at least play-off (1 place):UruguayFascinating stuff in South America, with only Brazil assured of going to Russiahaving qualified about two years ago (OK, in March).The top four make it through automatically here, with a fifth-placed team advancing to a play-off againstNew Zealand. Only four points separatesecond-placed Uruguayfrom seventh-placedParaguaywith one game to go.Argentina (25pts) arein sixth place, but still only a point behind third-placed Chile (26)– and Argentina will qualifyif they beat Ecuador in their final game, sincePeru (25pts)faceColombia (26)and at least one of them will drop points as a result. ChilevisitBrazilin a tough final fixture, whileUruguay (28)hostBolivia and should secure safe passage through automatically.CAFAlready qualified automatically (2 of 4):Nigeria, EgyptTwo places still up for grabs from Africa, after Nigeria and Egypt confirmed theirs on Sunday. In Group A, Tunisiahave a three-point lead and two-goal advantage over DRCongo, and hostbottom side Libya in their final game.DR Congomust beat Guinea handsomely to stand any chance of going through.In Group C,MoroccoandIvory Coastwill duke it out in a ding-dong final game. Morocco currently hold a one-point lead over the Elephants, so a draw would do for them – but the game is in Abidjan, where the Ivory Coast will be aiming to make home advantage count. Tasty.CONCACAFAlready qualified automatically (2 of 3):Mexico, Costa RicaAssured of play-off (1 place): N/ATheUSAwill be confident of wrapping up the last automatic qualification spot with a final game against bottom side Trinidadand Tobago, who have lost eight of their nine qualifiers so far.Victory will secure it for Bruce Arena's side, whogot to this point by trashingPanama4-0 in a vital game last time out.That meansPanamaare in a spot of bother. They currently hold the play-off spot ahead ofHondurasby virtue of a two-goal better GD, but face Costa Ricain their last game. Luckily for them, Honduras are taking on runaway leaders Mexico.AFCAlready qualified automatically (4 of 4): Iran, South Korea, Japan, Saudi ArabiaAssured of play-off (2 of 2):Syria, AustraliaStraightforward in Asia: Syria and Australia kick off the second leg of their play-off (aggregate score 1-1) at 10am on Tuesday morning (BST). Whoever wins will face the fourth-placed side from CONCACAF in a final play-off.OFCAlready qualified automatically:N/AAssured of play-off (1 place):New ZealandThere's no automatic qualification spot for Oceania; instead, New Zealand worked their way through various group and knockout stages to eventually beat the Solomon Islands 8-3 in a dominant two-legged OFC final. Their reward will be the fifth-placed team from CONMEBOL in a finalplay-off.New features you'd love on FourFourTwo.com
