LAHORE – Pakistan will open their campaign for qualification into the 20th World Football Cup when they take on Bangladesh in the Asian qualifiers on June 29 this year. Pakistan will face Bangladesh in a two-legged encounter on June 29 and July 3. It will be first meeting between two nations since 2009, when a goal-less draw was recorded during the 8th SAFF Championship on December 6, 2009 at Dhaka.
The FIFA World Cup 2014 will feature 32 teams. One place has been allocated to the hosts Brazil. As in 2006 and 2010, no automatic slot has been given to titlists Spain.
The remaining 31 places will be determined by a qualification process, in which entrants from among the other 207 teams from the six FIFA confederations will compete. The distribution by confederation for the next World Cup will be: Europe (13), Africa (5), Asia, South America (4 or 5), North, Central America and Caribbean (3 or 4), Host (1), Oceania (0 or 1). The World Cup qualification draws set up a number of intriguing ties in the first round, with Pakistan squaring off against Bangladesh, Lebanon awaiting the winners of the South Asian derby and Cambodia and Laos battling it for the right to meet China in the second round. 20th World Cup 2014-Asian Qualifiers Round One (29 July, 3 July 2011)Malaysia v Chinese Taipei, Pakistan v Bangladesh, Cambodia v Laos, Sri Lanka v Philippines, Afghanistan v Palestine, Vietnam v Macau, Nepal v Timor Leste, Mongolia v Myanmar.
