Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic will go head-to-head for a
place at the 2014 World Cup after Portugal and Sweden were drawn
together in the European qualification playoffs.
Portugal captain Ronaldo
will lead his team out against Ibrahimovic's Sweden, with one of the
star duo set to miss out on a ticket to football's biggest tournament
following the draw at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.
Eight second-place teams from the nine European groups will compete over two legs for four World Cup berths.
Paulo Bento's Portugal
were pipped to automatic qualification by one point, finishing behind
Fabio Capello's Russia. If Portugal fail to qualify it will be the first
time they have missed the tournament since 1998.
Sweden, coached by Erik Hamren, will be desperate to reach a 12th World Cup after missing out on South Africa 2010.
France, World Cup winners
in 1998, were drawn against Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine, with Euro 2004
champions Greece taking on Romania.
Minnows Iceland, who are
bidding to become the smallest nation to successfully qualify for the
quadrennial competition, will play Croatia, who sacked coach Igor Stimac
last week.
Stimac was replaced by former player Niko Kovac, who took over on a caretaker basis.
Each of the four ties
will be contested over two matches, with the first set to be played on
November 15 and the second on November 19.
European playoff draw in full:
Portugal vs. Sweden
Ukraine vs. France
Greece vs. Romania
Iceland vs. Croatia
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