When are the World Cup playoffs and how many Celtic players are involved?

Add as preferred source on Google

As the World Cup qualifiers come to an end this week, we take a look at what the latest means for the Celtic international contingent.

Celtic have had as many as 7 first-team players break away for international duty this week. And it could be even more by the time the World Cup playoffs come around.

With Celtic pushing to reclaim their Premiership title this season, the supporters will be itching to get as many players back safe and sound this week. And it’ll be the same down the line when the playoffs come around.

And here, we provide you with a Celtic-focused guide on the upcoming World Cup do-or-die fixtures:

How many Celtic players are involved in the playoffs?

It could be the case that as many as 6 Celtic first-team players could take part in the playoff games with the vast majority involved with one nation in Scotland.

Callum McGregor and David Turnbull were both called up for the senior squad this week, whilst Anthony Ralston was a late call to replace Nathan Patterson. Throw James Forrest and Greg Taylor into the mix and it’s likely we could have some major players heading off. That is, of course, if Steve Clarke selects them.

Carl Starfelt is also likely to be away with Sweden should he keep his spot. Josip Juranovic has already qualified for the World Cup with Croatia whilst Nir Bitton and Liel Abada have failed to progress beyond the group stages with Israel.

Of course, it could be the case that either Kyogo Furuhashi of Japan or Tom Rogic of Australia are also involved in World Cup playoff clashes of their own. Whoever finishes 3rd in their current Asian qualifying group will progress to the 4th round, whilst the top 2 go straight into the World Cup in Qatar.

The 4th round of the Asian qualifiers sees the two 3rd-placed teams from either group compete. The winners then progress to the inter-confederations playoffs to see who qualifies for the World Cup.

As of right now, Japan sit 3rd, just a point behind 2nd placed Australia with 3 games remaining.

When are the World Cup playoffs?

For the European section, it’s extremely straightforward. The playoff semi-finals will take place on March 24th/25th. The finals will take place on March 28th/29th.

In terms of the Asian qualifiers, the 4th round playoff takes place in either May or June. A precise date has yet to be announced. The inter-confederation playoff games will take place in June.

This means that the Asian qualifiers in particular shouldn’t interfere with Celtic’s plans towards the end of the season.

As for the European qualifiers, those matches are pencilled in during a dedicated international break period. The players involved will not miss any matches for Celtic, but they will be playing important games at a crucial time of the season for their countries.

Will the World Cup playoffs cause disruption to Celtic’s season?

Not any more than a normal international break would.

There will be time put aside to accommodate the games. That means players won’t miss any Celtic fixtures whilst they’re away.

The main goal for the Hoops will be to keep tabs on their top stars and pray that nothing happens to them. A nasty injury in March could keep some of our best players out of the title run-in. That would undoubtedly be a disaster.

But there’s no scheduled disruption to the Celtic calendar. All fixtures, whether they be via the European or Asian section, will take place in between Celtic games.

In other news, £2.5m English Championship star is absolutely buzzing for one particular Celtic player