France and Portugal are among the nations to have secured a place in the play-off round of European qualification for World Cup 2014.
France beat Finland 3-0 in their last Group H game but Spain's win over Georgia ensured les Bleus were consigned to second, while Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal team-mates finished a point behind Fabio Capello's Russia in Group F.
The one Uefa group runner-up that will miss out on a play-off
spot due to their worst record against the first, third, fourth
and fifth-placed sides are Denmark due to their only being
eight spots up for grabs.
Group B's race for second between four teams - Bulgaria,
Czech Republic, Armenia and the Danes - went down to the
wire, and the way the countries took points off each other
worked against them in the end.
Sweden were the only team heading into the final round of
matches to be guaranteed to be in the play-offs, with Germany
a distant Group C winner, no teams challenging their second
place and the bottom-placed team already decided.
The second team to know their play-off fate were Greece, as
Bosnia and Herzegovina won to deny the Euro 2004 winners
automatic entry to the tournament in Brazil next summer.
Croatia already bagged second place in Group A and were
able to avoid missing out on the play-offs despite losing 2-0
to Scotland in their final game on Tuesday.
Iceland - who have never reached a major international
tournament in their footballing history - will be delighted to
have a crack at World Cup 2014 qualification after Slovenia
were defeated 1-0 by Group E winners Switzerland, meaning
the Scandinavians' 1-1 draw with Norway was enough to
finish second.
Turkey's 2-0 defeat to Netherlands ensured that Romania
finished ahead of their Group D runner-up challengers and
Fatih Terim's men slipped from second to fourth, with
Hungary hopping into third with their 2-0 win over Andorra.
The final spot on Tuesday went to Ukraine, who hammered
San Marino 8-0 but were pipped to first place in Group G by
England, who beat Poland 2-0 in their Wembley clash.
The draw for the two-legged ties will take place on October
21 in Zurich, with giants France potentially seeded second,
opening up the possibility of a clash with fellow pre-draw
play-off favourites Portugal .
The top seeds are expected to be Croatia Portugal, Greece and Bosnia although October's Fifa ranking is yet to be released, with France, Sweden, Romania and Iceland set to be the other four sides.
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