Russia 2018 had it all: incredible stories, great goals and huge performances. Amid the furore of Catalonia's disputed independence referendum, Spain went undefeated and qualified from Group G of European qualifying with a match to spare after beating Albania 3-0. The draw for the 2018 World Cup is set to take place in Moscow's Kremlin building on Friday, December 1. Johan Djourou put the ball in his own net to hand the lead to Portugal, before Fernando Santos's men doubled their lead with a 57-minute Andre Silva strike. Oscar Ramirez's men finished second in CONCACAF qualifying behind Mexico. {{#lst:2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (inter-confederation play-offs)|playoff1}}. Brazil remain undefeated in competitive fixtures since the new man took charge and won 10 of their final 12 qualification matches. Switzerland broke Northern Irish hearts by holding on to another goalless draw, advancing 1-0 on aggregate after a controversial penalty in the first leg. Topping Group D of European qualifying ahead of the Republic of Ireland, Wales and Austria, Serbia qualified for a first major international tournament since 2010. The fourth-placed team from CONCACAF was drawn against the fifth-placed team from AFC, with the CONCACAF team hosting the first leg. In a change to previous qualification tournaments for this confederation, the first three rounds will be played as knockout rounds, with both the fourth round and the final round (referred to as 'The Hexagonal') played as group stages. Both nations had qualified for three successive World Cups but failure to reach Russia 2018 ended up costing Belgian Marc Wilmots his job as manager of Les Elephants. The seeding – used to draw the first four rounds of the qualifiers – was based on the FIFA World Rankings of August 2014 (shown in parentheses). The most recent competitive fixtures for Stanislav Cherchesov's men came in the 2017 Confederations Cup, where they crashed out in the group stage. Robert Lewandowski was the top scorer, with 16 goals. The Tricolor joined them, qualifying for the upcoming World Cup in dramatic fashion courtesy of a header from Kendall Waston in the fifth minute of added time against Honduras. Ever present at the World Cup since 1986, the Taeguk Warriors qualified for Russia 2018 courtesy of a second place finish in Group A of Asian qualifying. The first round was played during the FIFA international dates of 23–31 March 2015. Panama qualified for the World Cup for the first time in their history after a 2-1 win against Costa Rica. Suarez missed almost two years of playing competitive football for his country after biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during a group match at the World Cup in Brazil. Apart from Russia, who qualified automatically as hosts, a total of 13 slots in the final tournament were available for UEFA teams. The Green Falcons beat Japan in the final round of Asian qualifying to finish second in a tightly contested group and book their place at Russia 2018. Defending champions Germany are bidding to become the first team to retain the title since Brazil did so in 1962. Wales, the surprise semifinalists at Euro 2016, finished third in their qualifying group, which means the World Cup will be deprived of Real Madrid star Gareth Bale and Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey. Colombia's Juan Cuadrado (C) leads a prayer after his team qualified for the 2018 World Cup following the 1-1 draw with with Peru in Lima. Now that the 32 teams have been decided, players, managers and fans wait in expectation for December 1. A total of 3.5 slots (3 direct slots and 1 inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament are available for CONCACAF teams.