8 criteria: Qualification cards are decided when the teams are equal in points

With the curtain coming down on the group stage competitions in the FIFA World Cup Finals, the complex calculations and qualifying scenarios are increasing, highlighting the importance of the criteria adopted by the International Federation (FIFA) to decide the ranking of teams with equal number of points, whether in the direct qualification race or the competition for the seats allocated to the best third-place finishers.

With the Tunisian team officially exiting the tournament, as the first Arab team to bid farewell, the chances of Egypt and Morocco seem to be strong in competing for the direct qualification tickets in their groups, while Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Algeria each have chances to be in the competition for one of the best third-place cards, while Jordan lost the first two matches to lose its chance to qualify for the round of 32.

As for the rest of the Arab teams, they need results that serve their interests to maintain their hopes of crossing over.

According to the interactive tool provided by the British BBC website to follow up on qualifying scenarios, the separation between teams with equal number of points does not begin with the overall goal difference as many believe, but rather depends first on the results of direct confrontations between the teams in question.

The number of points achieved in direct confrontations is the first criterion for deciding the ranking between equal teams, and when three or more teams are equal, a mini table is created that includes these teams only, excluding their results against the other team in the group, and then the points for the matches that combined them together are counted.

If the equality persists, we move to the goal difference in direct confrontations, then the number of goals scored in those matches.

If these criteria are not sufficient to determine the ranking, the results of the teams in all group matches are used, starting with the overall goal difference, then the total goals scored during the group stage.

However, if the equality continues after that, the fair play criterion is applied, which depends on the number and type of cards obtained by the players of each team. FIFA deducts one point for each yellow card, three points for a red card resulting from two cautions, four points for a direct red card, and five points if the player receives a yellow card and then a direct red card in the same match.

In rare cases where it is not possible to separate teams according to all previous criteria, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) world rankings are used, so that the highest-ranked team advances according to two consecutive cases.

These criteria gain double importance in the current edition of the World Cup, in light of the increase in the number of participating teams, and the widening circle of competition for qualifying cards, especially the seats allocated to the best third-place finishers, which makes every goal, card or point an influential factor in shaping the features of the next round.

Previous editions of the tournament witnessed teams qualifying or exiting with very small differences. There were even teams that lost their chance to pass due to their disciplinary record after being equal in all other technical indicators, which confirms that qualification calculations may sometimes extend to the number of cards that players obtained throughout the tournament.

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