2014 FIFA World Cup -Qualifiacation Matches

The 2014 FIFA World Cup  will feature 32 teams. One place was allocated to the hosts, Brazil, but no automatic place is given to the defending champions,Spain.

The remaining 31 places will be determined by a qualification process, in which entrants from among the other 207 teams from the 6 FIFA Confederations will compete

The 2014 FIFA World Cup is the 20th FIFA World Cup that is scheduled to take place in Brazil from  June 12-July 13,2014 and  is to be the second time Brazil has hosted the competition(first being the 1950 FIFA World Cup)

The 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil is the first World Cup to be held in South America since the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina  

Brazil is scheduled to become the 5th country to have hosted the FIFA World Cup twice, after Mexico, Italy, France and Germany. 

 .

Confederation Qualification Processes

The distribution by confederation for the 2014 World Cup will be -

• Europe (UEFA): 13 places
• Africa (CAF): 5 places
• Asia (AFC): 4 or 5 places
• South America (CONMEBOL) 4 or 5 places (+ Brazil qualified automatically as host nation for a total of 5 or 6 places)
• North, Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 3 or 4 places
• Oceania (OFC: 0 or 1 place

UEFA and CAF have a guaranteed number of places, whereas the number of qualifiers from other confederations is dependent on play-offs between Asia's fifth-placed team and CONMEBOL's fifth-placed team, and between CONCACAF's fourth-placed team and Oceania's first-placed team.

As of March 22,2013, 120 teams remain in contention for 31 remaining qualification places.

Qualified Teams
Team                            Qualification Method                                           Qualification Date
Brazil                            Host Country                                                          Oct 30,2007
Japan                           AFC 4th Round Group B Winner                             June 04,2013
Australia                      AFC 4th Round Group B Runner-Up                       June 18,2013
Iran                             AFC 4th Round Group A Winner                             June 18,2013
South Korea                AFC 4th Round Group A Runner-Up                      June 18,2013
Netherlands                  UEFA Group D Winner                                           Sep 10,2013
Italy                             UEFA Group B Winner                                            Sep 10,2013
USA                            CONCACAF 4th Round                                         Sep 10,2013
Costa Rica                   CONCACAF 4th Round                                         Sep 10,2013
Argentina                      CONMEBOL Round Robin                                    Sep 10,2013

Venues
The 12 host cities for the 2014 World Cup were -
1)Rio de Janeiro - The Estádio do Maracanã Stadium
2)Brasilia - Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha Stadium
3)Sau Paulo -The Arena de São Paulo, officially Arena Corinthians
4)Fortaleza - The Estádio Plácido Aderaldo Castelo Stadium
5)Belo Horizonte -Mineirão, officially Estádio Governador Magalhães Pinto Stadium
6)Porto Alegre - Estádio José Pinheiro Borda Stadium
7)Salvador -The Arena Fonte Novaofficially Arena Professor Octávio Mangabeira Stadium    
8)Recife -Arena Pernambuco
9)Cuiaba -Arena Pantanal
10)Manaus -Arena Amazonia
11)Natal - The Arena das Dunas or Dunas Arena 
12)Cruritiba -Estádio Joaquim Américo Guimarães, commonly referred to as Arena da Baixada