2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Second Round 2014 FIFA World Cup. Croatia won 2–0 on aggregate and qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Second Round The UEFA Second Round was contested by the best eight runners-up from the nine first round groups from the UEFA segment of the qualification tournament for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in football. The winners — Croatia, France, Greece, and Portugal — of each of four home and away ties joined the group winners in the World Cup in Brazil. The matches, which are often referred to as 'play-offs', were held on 15 and
National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup group stage. The first host ever to fail to advance past the first round was South Africa in 2010. † denotes the best result in the team's history, ‡ - the best result at the time of the competition (improved later). The defending World Cup champions were formerly granted an automatic spot in the Cup finals field. As of the 2006 tournament, this berth is no longer guaranteed. However, no defending World Cup champion has yet failed to qualify. Automatic berths have never been given for defending World Cup runners-up. Defending runners-up are 15-for-18 in qualification efforts for the following