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.[1][2]
The group winners, Spain, qualified directly for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The group runners-up, Italy, advanced to the play-offs as one of the best eight runners-up.
The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 26 July 2015, the day following the draw.[1][4] Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times are in parentheses).[5]
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[9]
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:
vs Macedonia (11 June 2017) vs Albania (6 October 2017)
Notes
^CET (UTC+1) for matches on 12 November 2016 and 24 March 2017, and CEST (UTC+2) for all other matches.
^The Albania v Macedonia match was suspended after 76 minutes due to adverse weather conditions, with the score 1–1 at the time. The match was resumed on 6 September 2016, 14:00 UTC+2.[6]
