ZURICH: Oceania will stage a nine-team tournament in Qatar in March to decide which team advances to an intercontinental playoff for a spot at the World Cup finals, FIFA said on Monday.

The winner of the March 14-30 competition will face the fourth-placed team from the CONCACAF region, which features sides from North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Oceania does not have an automatic place at the finals.

New Zealand were the last country from the region to qualify for the World Cup when they appeared in South Africa in 2010. They missed out on a place in Russia in 2018 after losing to Peru in a playoff.

Cook Islands and Tonga will play for a slot in the group phase of the Oceania tournament, with the winner taking their place alongside New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Island, Tahiti and Vanuatu.

The group phase draw was due to take place later on Monday.

American Samoa and Samoa withdrew due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Teams will be drawn into two groups of four with the top two advancing to the semi-finals at the end of the single round-robin phase.

FIFA have granted the Oceania Football Confed­eration a one-day extension to the March international window, which is due to run from March 21-29, to allow teams to call up overseas-based players from the final round of group matches onwards.

CLUB WORLD CUP IN UAE IN FEBRUARY

Also on Monday, FIFA confirmed dates for the delayed 2021 Club World Cup, with the Feb 3-12 tournament in the United Arab Emirates requiring Chelsea to postpone two Premier League games.

The schedule was announced hours before the tournament draw was being made.

The seven-team lineup was completed Saturday when Palmeiras won the Copa Libertadores.

Chelsea, the Champions League winners, and Palmeiras enter at the semi-finals stage and then go on to play the final or a third-place game.

Premier League leaders Chelsea had been due to play Feb 8 at Brighton and host Arsenal on Feb 12. Those games should now be rescheduled.

The tournament also includes African champions Al Ahly, Asian champions Al Hilal, CONCACAF Champions League winner Monterrey, Oceania champion Auckland City plus the host nation’s domestic title winner, Al Jazira.

The Covid-19 pandemic has twice altered plans for the 2021 Club World Cup.

It was originally to be the inaugural expanded edition in China in June and July. That launch was shelved by FIFA when the 2020 editions of the European Championship and Copa America were put back one year.

A traditional seven-team Club World Cup was to be hosted in December by Japan, which withdrew three months ago citing likely travel restrictions in the pandemic.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2021