2019 qualification

I know that it is 4 years away but does anyone know how places are allocated e.g. geographically etc? I was just thinking that if Samoa, Tonga and Fiji all have to go through pre-qualifying with no "reserved" places available for finishing 3rd in their group, can they all still be there in 2019 or, because they all have to go through qualifying with only x places available, will one miss out?

Well, there are 8 spots missing. This year Georgia and Romania had Europe 1 and 2. Namibia got Africa 1. USA and Canada got Americas 1 and 2. Fiji got Oceania 1. Japan got Asia 1. Uruguay got playoffs.

If these regions are maintained (and they should be IMO), you'd get one through Oceania 1 and probably 1 via the playoffs. Of course the Asia one would probably be Hong Kong or South Korea. Europe will probably be Romania and Russia. Africa, Namibia.

HammerofThunor wrote:...Of course the Asia one would probably be Hong Kong or South Korea....

Unfortunately, that will be a throwback to the days of wholly uncompetitive World Cup fixtures.

Given that Japan beat Hong Kong by more than Scotland beat Japan.

HammerofThunor wrote:Well, there are 8 spots missing. This year Georgia and Romania had Europe 1 and 2. Namibia got Africa 1. USA and Canada got Americas 1 and 2. Fiji got Oceania 1. Japan got Asia 1. Uruguay got playoffs.

If these regions are maintained (and they should be IMO), you'd get one through Oceania 1 and probably 1 via the playoffs. Of course the Asia one would probably be Hong Kong or South Korea. Europe will probably be Romania and Russia. Africa, Namibia.

Which will mean one PI nation missing out then?
I take the point about South Korea or HK getting pumped but it's not so long ago that Japan went getting heavily beaten. Uruguay are amateur and acquitted themselves well enough. There is heaps of cash and a massive potential TV population in Asia so another Asian country wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing

it'll be interesting to see what they do. It'd be a shame if one (or more) PI team is excluded from the next tournament, but it'd be good to see some new countries competing