Ghana: Top Seed - Cape Verde: Out -Tunisia In

Ghana have been confirmed as one of the top five seeds ahead of the play-offs draw in the latest FIFA world rankings.

The Black Stars are ranked among the top five on the continent alongside Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Cape Verde.


This means the four-time African champions will avoid any of the four other sides named in the top five during the draw for the World Cup play-offs on September 16 in Cairo.


But Kwesi Appiah’s men must be bracing up for a meeting with either Cameroon, Senegal, Ethiopia, Egypt or Burkina Faso.


It will be a two-legged tie with the winner after the two meetings booking a ticket for the global showpiece in Brazil.


The Black Stars will also get to know whether they will first play at home or away in a separate draw after the pairings.

Overall, Ghana are ranked 24th in the world and 2nd on the African continent.

Cape Verde sanctioned; Tunisia through to final FIFA World Cup qualifying round

By means of a telephone conference, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has today taken a decision to sanction the Cape Verdean Football Association (FCF) for fielding an ineligible player in the preliminary competition match for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ between Tunisia and the Cape Verde Islands on 7 September 2013.


The match has been declared to be forfeited and awarded 3-0 in favour of Tunisia, meaning that the Cape Verde Islands will not progress to round three of the FIFA World Cup™ African zone qualifiers having dropped to second place in Group B with nine points while Tunisia finish first with 14 points and will now advance.


The FCF has also received a fine of CHF 6,000 after the FIFA Disciplinary Committee considered the FCF liable for having breached art. 55 par. 1 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and art. 8 of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Regulations.


The sanction relates to the Cape Verde player Fernando Varela failing to serve the full four-match suspension imposed on him after receiving a red card for unsporting conduct towards a match official during a FIFA World Cup™ qualifier on 24 March 2013.


The draw for round three of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the African zone will be conducted next Monday, 16 September. The five best-placed sides in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, which will be released today following the outcome of this disciplinary case, will be seeded in the draw.