# 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)

The South American section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup held in Russia, for national teams which are members of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL). A total of 4.5 slots (4 direct slots and 1 inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament were available for CONMEBOL teams.
Two-time defending Copa América champions Chile did not qualify for 2018 FIFA World Cup after a 3–0 loss to Brazil on the final day of qualifying campaign, resulting in a sixth-place finish. As a result, following intercontinental play-offs against the record five-time OFC Nations Cup champions New Zealand, Peru qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1982.

## Format

The qualification structure was the same as for the previous five tournaments. The ten teams played in a league of home-and-away round-robin matches. The top four teams qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the fifth-placed team advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Unlike previous qualifying tournaments where the fixtures were pre-determined, the fixtures were determined by draw, which was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
For scheduling reasons, Argentina and Brazil were automatically positioned as Teams 4 and 5 respectively to ensure that no team has to play both of them on any double matchday. The remaining eight teams were drawn into one of the remaining eight positions from Teams 1 to 10 (except 4 and 5).

## Entrants

All ten national teams from CONMEBOL entered qualification.
Note: Bolded teams qualified for the World Cup. Peru advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
| Draw position | Team | FIFA ranking at start of event |
| 1 | Colombia | 5 |
| 2 | Chile | 9 |
| 3 | Paraguay | 61 |
| 4 | Argentina | 1 |
| 5 | Brazil | 7 |
| 6 | Ecuador | 31 |
| 7 | Venezuela | 69 |
| 8 | Bolivia | 67 |
| 9 | Peru | 50 |
| 10 | Uruguay | 20 |

## Schedule

There were a total of 18 matchdays: four in 2015, eight in 2016, and six in 2017.
2015 :
| Matchday | Date |
| Matchday 1 | 5–13 October 2015 |
| Matchday 2 | 5–13 October 2015 |
| Matchday 3 | 9–17 November 2015 |
| Matchday 4 | 9–17 November 2015 |
2016 :
| Matchday | Date |
| Matchday 5 | 21–29 March 2016 |
| Matchday 6 | 21–29 March 2016 |
| Matchday 7 | 29 August – 6 September 2016 |
| Matchday 8 | 29 August – 6 September 2016 |
| Matchday 9 | 3–11 October 2016 |
| Matchday 10 | 3–11 October 2016 |
| Matchday 11 | 7–15 November 2016 |
| Matchday 12 | 7–15 November 2016 |
2017 :
| Matchday | Date |
| Matchday 13 | 20–28 March 2017 |
| Matchday 14 | 20–28 March 2017 |
| Matchday 15 | 28 August – 5 September 2017 |
| Matchday 16 | 28 August – 5 September 2017 |
| Matchday 17 | 2–10 October 2017 |
| Matchday 18 | 2–10 October 2017 |
The inter-confederation play-offs were scheduled to be played between 6–14 November 2017.
The fixtures for CONMEBOL qualification were decided based on the draw positions, as follows:
| Matchday | Fixtures |
| Matchday 1 | 1 v 9, 2 v 5, 4 v 6, 7 v 3, 8 v 10 |
| Matchday 2 | 3 v 4, 5 v 7, 6 v 8, 9 v 2, 10 v 1 |
| Matchday 3 | 2 v 1, 4 v 5, 6 v 10, 8 v 7, 9 v 3 |
| Matchday 4 | 1 v 4, 3 v 8, 5 v 9, 7 v 6, 10 v 2 |
| Matchday 5 | 2 v 4, 5 v 10, 6 v 3, 8 v 1, 9 v 7 |
| Matchday 6 | 1 v 6, 3 v 5, 4 v 8, 7 v 2, 10 v 9 |
| Matchday 7 | 1 v 7, 3 v 2, 4 v 10, 6 v 5, 8 v 9 |
| Matchday 8 | 2 v 8, 5 v 1, 7 v 4, 9 v 6, 10 v 3 |
| Matchday 9 | 3 v 1, 5 v 8, 6 v 2, 9 v 4, 10 v 7 |
| Matchday | Fixtures |
| Matchday 10 | 1 v 10, 2 v 9, 4 v 3, 7 v 5, 8 v 6 |
| Matchday 11 | 1 v 2, 3 v 9, 5 v 4, 7 v 8, 10 v 6 |
| Matchday 12 | 2 v 10, 4 v 1, 6 v 7, 8 v 3, 9 v 5 |
| Matchday 13 | 1 v 8, 3 v 6, 4 v 2, 7 v 9, 10 v 5 |
| Matchday 14 | 2 v 7, 5 v 3, 6 v 1, 8 v 4, 9 v 10 |
| Matchday 15 | 2 v 3, 5 v 6, 7 v 1, 9 v 8, 10 v 4 |
| Matchday 16 | 1 v 5, 3 v 10, 4 v 7, 6 v 9, 8 v 2 |
| Matchday 17 | 1 v 3, 2 v 6, 4 v 9, 7 v 10, 8 v 5 |
| Matchday 18 | 3 v 7, 5 v 2, 6 v 4, 9 v 1, 10 v 8 |

## Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1 | Brazil | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 41 | 11 | +30 | 41 | 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 3–1 |
| 2 | Uruguay | 18 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 32 | 20 | +12 | 31 | 2018 FIFA World Cup | 1–4 | — | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 3–0 |
| 3 | Argentina | 18 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 19 | 16 | +3 | 28 | 2018 FIFA World Cup | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| 4 | Colombia | 18 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 21 | 19 | +2 | 27 | 2018 FIFA World Cup | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | — | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| 5 | Peru | 18 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 27 | 26 | +1 | 26 | Inter-confederation play-offs | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | — | 3–4 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 |
| 6 | Chile | 18 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 26 | 27 | −1 | 26 | | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | — | 0–3 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| 7 | Paraguay | 18 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 19 | 25 | −6 | 24 | | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 2–1 | — | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 |
| 8 | Ecuador | 18 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 26 | 29 | −3 | 20 | | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 | — | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| 9 | Bolivia | 18 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 16 | 38 | −22 | 14 | | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | — | 4–2 |
| 10 | Venezuela | 18 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 19 | 35 | −16 | 12 | | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 5–0 | — |

## Inter-confederation play-offs

The draw for the inter-confederation play-offs was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg. The fifth-placed team from CONMEBOL was drawn against the first-placed team from OFC, with the CONMEBOL team hosting the second leg.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| New Zealand | 0–2 | Peru | 0–0 | 0–2 |

## Qualified teams

The following five teams from CONMEBOL qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup |
| Brazil | Winners | 28 March 2017 | 20 (all) (1930, 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014) |
| Uruguay | Runners-up | 10 October 2017 | 12 (1930, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1986, 1990, 2002, 2010, 2014) |
| Argentina | Third place | 10 October 2017 | 16 (1930, 1934, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014) |
| Colombia | Fourth place | 10 October 2017 | 5 (1962, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2014) |
| Peru | OFC v CONMEBOL play-off winners | 15 November 2017 | 4 (1930, 1970, 1978, 1982) |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

## Goalscorers

There were 242 goals scored in 90 matches, for an average of 2.69 goals per match.
10 goals
* Edinson Cavani
7 goals
* Gabriel Jesus
* Lionel Messi
* Alexis Sánchez
* Felipe Caicedo
6 goals
* Neymar
* Paulinho
* Arturo Vidal
* James Rodríguez
5 goals
* Eduardo Vargas
* Enner Valencia
* Edison Flores
* Paolo Guerrero
* Josef Martínez
* Luis Suárez
4 goals
* Philippe Coutinho
* Willian
* Juan Carlos Arce
* Darío Lezcano
* Christian Cueva
* Rómulo Otero
3 goals
* Pablo Escobar
* Renato Augusto
* Carlos Bacca
* Edwin Cardona
* Jefferson Farfán
* Martín Cáceres
* Diego Godín
2 goals
* Douglas Costa
* Filipe Luís
* Ricardo Oliveira
* Ángel Di María
* Gabriel Mercado
* Lucas Pratto
* Rodrigo Ramallo
* Esteban Paredes
* Mauricio Pinilla
* Radamel Falcao
* Miller Bolaños
* Romario Ibarra
* Fidel Martínez
* Derlis González
* Cristian Rodríguez
* Diego Rolán
* Mikel Villanueva
1 goal
* Dani Alves
* Lucas Lima
* Marcelo
* Miranda
* Roberto Firmino
* Lucas Biglia
* Ramiro Funes Mori
* Gonzalo Higuaín
* Ezequiel Lavezzi
* Nicolás Otamendi
* Gilbert Álvarez
* Rudy Cardozo
* Alejandro Chumacero
* Yasmani Duk
* Marcelo Moreno
* Ronald Raldes
* Felipe Gutiérrez
* Abel Aguilar
* Juan Cuadrado
* Teófilo Gutiérrez
* Yerry Mina
* Sebastián Pérez
* Macnelly Torres
* Gabriel Achilier
* Michael Arroyo
* Frickson Erazo
* Ángel Mena
* Arturo Mina
* Jefferson Montero
* Cristian Ramírez
* Antonio Valencia
* Júnior Alonso
* Lucas Barrios
* Édgar Benítez
* Víctor Cáceres
* Óscar Cardozo
* Paulo da Silva
* Richard Ortiz
* Cristian Riveros
* Ángel Romero
* Óscar Romero
* Antonio Sanabria
* Bruno Valdez
* André Carrillo
* Paolo Hurtado
* Christian Ramos
* Raúl Ruidíaz
* Renato Tapia
* Sebastián Coates
* Abel Hernández
* Nicolás Lodeiro
* Álvaro Pereira
* Carlos Sánchez
* Federico Valverde
* Richard Blanco
* Yangel Herrera
* Juanpi
* Jacobo Kouffati
* Jhon Murillo
* Mario Rondón
* Salomón Rondón
* Christian Santos
1 own goal
* Marquinhos (against Colombia)
* Arturo Vidal (against Paraguay)
* David Ospina (against Peru)
* Édgar Benítez (against Peru)
* Diego Godín (against Bolivia)
* Gastón Silva (against Bolivia)
* Rolf Feltscher (against Argentina)
2 own goals
* Gustavo Gómez (against Bolivia and Uruguay)