FIFA has allowed Bangladesh to have direct entry in the Fifa World Cup 2018 Qualifiers for the first time as per the new regulations introduced by the world football's governing body.
Abu Naeem Shohag, the general secretary of Bangladesh Football Federation confirmed the information about the Preliminary Joint Qualifiers officially reached the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) by an e-mail on Monday.
According to the new regulations, the first 34 ranked teams of the current 46 members of Asian Football Confederation will play in the FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifiers directly.
The remaining 12 teams will have to play the play-offs first and the six winners will join the aforesaid 34 to complete the 40 team qualifier process.
The 40 teams will be split into eight groups of five teams each and the eight group winners and the best four runners-up teams will play in the final round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Among the twelve teams the top three will get the direct tickets while the fourth will have to play the play-off against Oceania Zone champions.
The top twelve will also enjoy the added advantage of qualifying for the Asian Cup 2019.
Fifa allotted ten-match day slots starting from June 2015 to March 2016 to complete the eight matches.
So, Bangladesh will have to play eight fully competitive international matches within next 14 months.
