The FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 draw was held on December 1 at the Palácio das Convenções in the Anhembi Convention Center in São Paulo.
FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013
The competition which is held as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil will be hosted in the same country across six different venues.
Of the competing teams Uruguay, Spain and Italy will be looking to become only the third team in history to win all major trophies under FIFA: World Cup, Olympics Gold Medal and Confederations Cup.
Brazil are the hosts as well as the defending champions after winning the trophy in 2009 by defeating the USA in the final. Brazil had also won the event in 2005 also.
Vincent Del Bosque’s World and European Champions Spain will be looking to add to their success by winning one last cup that they are yet to win. Spain will be favorites to win along with Brazil. The two teams are also favorites to win the World Cup 2014 as well and the Confederations Cup might give us an indication on the side to choose then.
The teams participating in the event are Brazil, Spain, Uruguay, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Tahiti and the Winners of the 2013 African Cup of Nations.
Brazil qualify as the hosts, Spain as the World and the European Champions, Uruguay as the 2011 Copa America Winners, Japan as the 2011 AFC Asian Cup Winners, Mexico as the 2011 CONCACAF Winners and Tahiti as the 2012 OFC Nations Cup Winners. Italy were invited to participate since they were the runners up of the 2012 UEFA Euro Cup since Spain had won the World Cup and the Euro Cup. The final African team will be determined when the African Cup of Nations end on the 10th of February.
Teams of the same confederations are not drawn into the same group. Brazil and Spain were automatically named A1 and B1 and hence Italy and Uruguay were drawn into group A and B respectively.
The Official match ball was unveiled during the draw and it was unveiled by the World Cup winning former Brazil Captain Cafu. The ball is named Cafusa.
Group A
- Brazil
- Italy
- Japan
- Mexico
Group B
- Spain
- Uruguay
- Tahiti
- Winner of 2013 African Cup of Nations
The first match will be held between hosts Brazil and Japan on june 15, 2013. The final will be held on June 30 at Rio De Janerio.
The AFC had to adjust the 2014 World Cup Qualifications for Japan as they were the representatives from Asian and their qualification matches for the 2014 event fell in between the dates of the Confederations Cup.
Tags: 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil, FIFA Confederations Cup, Football, Sao Paulo
