ZURICH, June 10, 2016 – Following the decision taken by the FIFA Congress in May 2016 to confirm the admission of Kosovo and Gibraltar as the 210th and 211th FIFA members respectively, both associations are entitled to take part in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, with UEFA tasked to look into the best way to integrate them in the preliminary competition.

UEFA’s Emergency Panel has today decided that Kosovo will join Croatia, Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey and Finland in Group I, and Gibraltar will join Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Estonia and Cyprus in Group H.

The UEFA Emergency Panel has decided that Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia should not play against Kosovo for security reasons.

Updated information on Europe’s preliminary competition for the 2018 FIFA World Cup will follow on FIFA.com.

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