Opinion – The World is a Ball: EUR, ICP1, ICP2 and the logistics for the World Cup

​“EUR is Russia?”

The question came in a group of colleagues on WhatsApp, during the draw for the groups of the World Cup in Qatar, on Friday (1st).

Colleagues not necessarily fond of football, and who work in the most diverse professions, but interested in the subject due to a specific event that, essential to draw attention, involved the Brazilian team.

In Group B, there was the EUR, shown on TV, below the English acronyms for England (ENG), Iran (IRN) and the United States (USA).

OK, maybe the IRN would be difficult to identify for those who are not familiar with the abbreviations of nations, but what about that EUR, very strange, what would it be?

More: what would ICP1, present in Group D, which had France (FRA), current world champion, as seed, and ICP2, in Group E, along with the powerful Spain (ESP) and Germany ( GER), in addition to Japan (JPN)?

​EUR was not Russia, not least because, due to the war in Ukraine, the Russian team was, as a punishment, withdrawn from the sporting dispute by FIFA, the highest football entity and the owner of the World Cup.

EUR was the reserved place in this key for a representative from Europe.

And those ICPs? They stand for “Intercontinental Playoffs”, intercontinental disputes. There are two ICPs, hence ICP1 and ICP2.

These acronyms, which did not display the abbreviations of countries, meant that there were, and still are, undefined teams for the World Cup in Qatar.

The FIFA draw was incomplete, it left holes. Three of the groups won’t have all the members known until June.

Why that?

Regarding the definition of the European team, because of the war. Due to the 41-day conflict, Ukraine was unable to face Scotland in last month’s play-off game.

The winner of this match, rescheduled for June, will still face Wales, days later, and the winner will go to Qatar.

If the war does not cool down until the day of Scotland v Ukraine, the most likely is that the Ukrainians will have to say goodbye to the dispute, and the Scots and Welsh will make the British duel to define who will be in the group of the British England.

In the case of the two intercontinental playoffs, which for some time have defined the last spots for the World Cup, they will be held late because the Covid pandemic has caused constant problems in the calendar, with continental qualifiers having to postpone matches.

The biggest delay is in Asia, which has not yet managed to define the team that will duel with the representative of South America.

Thus, at ICP1, Australia (which despite being geographically in Oceania participates in the Asian qualifiers) or the United Arab Emirates will play, and whoever passes will face Peru. All in June.

ICP2 will bring together a selection from Concacaf (North, Central America and the Caribbean), Costa Rica, and one from Oceania, New Zealand. When? In June.

Why in June, not sooner?

Because until then there are no dates for the teams to gather their players, spread around the world to play for their clubs in national championships and leagues.

With all these uncertainties, the logic indicated that, not having the identification of all the countries for the World Cup draw, that this same draw would be postponed.

I made this question to FIFA, and a spokeswoman informed that this was not possible due to the logistics of the deal. She mentioned, as an example, the issue of choosing the training camps for the Cup participants.

I am not knowledgeable in logistics, but are four months (from mid-June to mid-October), in a computerized world, insufficient to define what is necessary (travel, accommodation, training centers)? The World Cup starts on the 21st of November.

The fact is that, in this scenario, the lottery ended up with undesirable gaps, after including an “alphabet soup” (EUR, ICP1, ICP2) that left viewers and readers with momentary or lasting difficulty in understanding.