The first round sees 11 preliminary matches between the lowest ranked nations, with qualifying beginning early in 2008. Stages One, Two and Three will be drawn at the Preliminary Draw in Durban, South Africa.

DRAW DETAILS

•  For Stages One, Two and Three, the 35 teams are divided into 6 pots based on the FIFA World Ranking of May 2007 with the strongest teams in Pot A, the next strongest teams in Pot B and so on though to Pot F.

• Pots A and B have 3 teams each
• Pot C has 6 teams
• Pot D has 1 team
• Pots E and F have 11 teams each
• Special Pot W will contain 11 “winner” balls for the Stage Two draw
• Stage One: Teams from Pots E and F will be drawn into 11 home-and-away series.

FIRST ROUND
Barbados	v	Dominica

Turks and Caicos Islands v St Lucia Bermuda v Cayman Islands Aruba v Antinga and Barbuda Belize v St Kitts and Nevis Bahamas v British Virgin Islands Dominican Republic v Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands v Grenada Suriname v Montserrat El Salvador v Anguilla Nicaragua v Netherlands Antilles

The rest of the nations join qualifying in the second round when they will be seeded again based on FIFA World Ranking. The winners of the 12 two-legged ties will move into round three.

• Stage Two: The 11 Stage One winners (Pot W) and the team from Pot D will be drawn against teams from Pots A, B, and C into 12 home-and-away series.

SECOND ROUND
USA	v	Winner Match 1

Guatemala v Winner Match 2 Trinidad & Tobago v Winner Match 3 Winner Match 4 v Cuba Winner Match 5 v Mexico Jamaica v Winner Match 6 Honduras v Winner Match 7 Canada v St Vincent/Grenadines Winner Match 9 v Costa Rica Winner Match 10 v Guyana Panama v Winner Match 11 Haiti v Winner Match 12

This next round is done on a league basis, with three groups of four countries. The top two teams in each group advance.