# 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group I

The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group I was one of the nine UEFA groups for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. The group consisted of six teams: Croatia, Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey, Finland, and Kosovo.
The draw for the first round (group stage) 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. Kosovo was added to the group after the draw, after becoming FIFA members together with Gibraltar in May 2016, and UEFA decided not to put Kosovo in group H together with Bosnia and Herzegovina for security reasons.
The group winners, Iceland, qualified directly for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The group runners-up, Croatia, advanced to the play-offs as one of the best 8 runners-up. This was the first time Ukraine was eliminated after the first round, as the team had been eliminated in 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 after the play-offs, and qualified in 2006.

## Standings

* 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tiebreakers
* In league format, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7):
* Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
* Overall goal difference
* Overall goals scored
* Points in matches between tied teams
* Goal difference in matches between tied teams
* Goals scored in matches between tied teams
* Away goals scored in matches between tied teams (if the tie was only between two teams in home-and-away league format)
* Fair play points
* first yellow card: minus 1 point
* indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points
* direct red card: minus 4 points
* yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points
* Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | | | |
| 1 | Iceland | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 7 | +9 | 22 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 2–0 |
| 2 | Croatia | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 4 | +11 | 20 | Advance to second round | 2–0 | — | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| 3 | Ukraine | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 17 | | 1–1 | 0–2 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| 4 | Turkey | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 13 | +1 | 15 | | 0–3 | 1–0 | 2–2 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| 5 | Finland | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 13 | −4 | 9 | | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | — | 1–1 |
| 6 | Kosovo | 10 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 24 | −21 | 1 | | 1–2 | 0–6 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 0–1 | — |

## Matches

The fixture list prior to the inclusion of Kosovo was confirmed by UEFA on 26 July 2015, the day following the draw. Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times are in parentheses).

## Goalscorers

There were 70 goals scored in 30 matches, for an average of 2.33 goals per match.
6 goals
* Andriy Yarmolenko
5 goals
* Mario Mandžukić
* Cenk Tosun
4 goals
* Gylfi Sigurðsson
3 goals
* Alfreð Finnbogason
* Artem Kravets
2 goals
* Marcelo Brozović
* Nikola Kalinić
* Andrej Kramarić
* Paulus Arajuuri
* Joel Pohjanpalo
* Teemu Pukki
* Kári Árnason
* Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson
* Hakan Çalhanoğlu
* Volkan Şen
* Ozan Tufan
* Burak Yılmaz
1 goal
* Matej Mitrović
* Ivan Perišić
* Ivan Rakitić
* Domagoj Vida
* Robin Lod
* Alexander Ring
* Pyry Soiri
* Birkir Bjarnason
* Theódór Elmar Bjarnason
* Hörður Björgvin Magnússon
* Björn Bergmann Sigurðarson
* Ragnar Sigurðsson
* Valon Berisha
* Atdhe Nuhiu
* Amir Rrahmani
* Cengiz Ünder
* Artem Besyedin
* Yevhen Konoplyanka
* Ruslan Rotan
1 own goal
* Leart Paqarada (against Ukraine)

## Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:
* Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
* Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches (yellow card suspensions were carried forward to the play-offs, but not the finals or any other future international matches)
The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches:
| Player | Team | Offence(s) | Suspended for match(es) |
| Aron Gunnarsson | Iceland | vs Ukraine (5 September 2016) vs Finland (6 October 2016) | vs Turkey (9 October 2016) |
| Niklas Moisander | Finland | vs Iceland (6 October 2016) vs Croatia (9 October 2016) | vs Ukraine (12 November 2016) |
| Hekuran Kryeziu | Kosovo | vs Finland (5 September 2016) vs Ukraine (9 October 2016) | vs Turkey (12 November 2016) |
| Emre Mor | Turkey | vs Ukraine (6 October 2016) vs Iceland (9 October 2016) | vs Kosovo (12 November 2016) |
| Ivan Perišić | Croatia | vs Iceland (12 November 2016) | vs Ukraine (24 March 2017) |
| Thomas Lam | Finland | vs Kosovo (5 September 2016) vs Ukraine (12 November 2016) | vs Turkey (24 March 2017) |
| Theódór Elmar Bjarnason | Iceland | vs Ukraine (9 October 2016) vs Croatia (12 November 2016) | vs Kosovo (24 March 2017) |
| Enis Alushi | Kosovo | vs Finland (5 September 2016) vs Turkey (12 November 2016) | vs Iceland (24 March 2017) |
| Eduard Sobol | Ukraine | vs Turkey (6 October 2016) vs Finland (12 November 2016) | vs Croatia (24 March 2017) |
| Paulus Arajuuri | Finland | vs Iceland (6 October 2016) vs Turkey (24 March 2017) | vs Ukraine (11 June 2017) |
| Alexander Ring | Finland | vs Croatia (9 October 2016) vs Turkey (24 March 2017) | vs Ukraine (11 June 2017) |
| Bernard Berisha | Kosovo | vs Turkey (11 June 2017) | vs Croatia (2 September 2017) |
| Burak Yılmaz | Turkey | vs Kosovo (12 November 2016) vs Kosovo (11 June 2017) | vs Ukraine (2 September 2017) |
| Yaroslav Rakitskiy | Ukraine | vs Finland (12 November 2016) vs Finland (11 June 2017) | vs Turkey (2 September 2017) |
| Jere Uronen | Finland | vs Turkey (24 March 2017) vs Iceland (2 September 2017) | vs Kosovo (5 September 2017) |
| Rúrik Gíslason | Iceland | vs Finland (2 September 2017) | vs Ukraine (5 September 2017) |
| Milan Badelj | Croatia | vs Iceland (12 November 2016) vs Turkey (5 September 2017) | vs Finland (6 October 2017) |
| Robin Lod | Finland | vs Iceland (2 September 2017) vs Kosovo (5 September 2017) | vs Croatia (6 October 2017) |
| Emil Hallfreðsson | Iceland | vs Finland (2 September 2017) vs Ukraine (5 September 2017) | vs Turkey (6 October 2017) |
| Bernard Berisha | Kosovo | vs Turkey (11 June 2017) vs Finland (5 September 2017) | vs Ukraine (6 October 2017) |
| Valon Berisha | Kosovo | vs Ukraine (9 October 2016) vs Finland (5 September 2017) | vs Ukraine (6 October 2017) |
| Hakan Çalhanoğlu | Turkey | vs Ukraine (6 October 2016) vs Croatia (5 September 2017) | vs Iceland (6 October 2017) |
| Viktor Kovalenko | Ukraine | vs Finland (11 June 2017) vs Iceland (5 September 2017) | vs Kosovo (6 October 2017) |
| Oleksandr Zinchenko | Ukraine | vs Finland (12 November 2016) vs Iceland (5 September 2017) | vs Kosovo (6 October 2017) |
| Hekuran Kryeziu | Kosovo | vs Iceland (24 March 2017) vs Ukraine (6 October 2017) | vs Iceland (9 October 2017) |
| Caner Erkin | Turkey | vs Ukraine (6 October 2016) vs Iceland (6 October 2017) | vs Finland (9 October 2017) |
| Artem Kravets | Ukraine | vs Finland (12 November 2016) vs Kosovo (6 October 2017) | vs Croatia (9 October 2017) |
| Ivan Ordets | Ukraine | vs Turkey (6 October 2016) vs Kosovo (6 October 2017) | vs Croatia (9 October 2017) |