Steven
22-04-2013, 14:16
An early start to the thread now that the new rankings are out.
For the second year in a row, 3 European teams lost in the World Group II playoffs, which means that having gone up from 15 teams to 16 last year, Euro/Africa Zone Group I will grow again, to 17 teams, in 2014. A pity really, since the number of teams is dependent on the number coming down from the playoffs, so more teams tends to mean more relatively strong teams.
As things stand (i.e. unless the order of the teams in the rankings changes between now and the end of the year), the seeding bands would be as follows:
Rk Team - all were in EAZ Group I last year unless otherwise stated
15 Belgium - relegated from World Group II
17 Great Britain - lost promotion play-off
21 Ukraine - relegated from World Group II
22 Belarus
26 Austria
27 Bulgaria
28 Croatia
30 Hungary
31 Portugal
32 Netherlands
33 Slovenia
35 Romania
36 Israel
38 Turkey
48 Luxembourg
58 Tunisia - promoted from EAZ Group II
63 Latvia - promoted from EAZ Group II
(there will be one pool of 5 next year, as there was in 2006, the last time there were 17 teams in Group I)
The teams that were in Group I last year but will not be returning in 2014 are Poland, who won promotion to World Group II, and Bosnia Hercegovina & Georgia, who both got relegated this year.
For the second year in a row, 3 European teams lost in the World Group II playoffs, which means that having gone up from 15 teams to 16 last year, Euro/Africa Zone Group I will grow again, to 17 teams, in 2014. A pity really, since the number of teams is dependent on the number coming down from the playoffs, so more teams tends to mean more relatively strong teams.
As things stand (i.e. unless the order of the teams in the rankings changes between now and the end of the year), the seeding bands would be as follows:
Rk Team - all were in EAZ Group I last year unless otherwise stated
15 Belgium - relegated from World Group II
17 Great Britain - lost promotion play-off
21 Ukraine - relegated from World Group II
22 Belarus
26 Austria
27 Bulgaria
28 Croatia
30 Hungary
31 Portugal
32 Netherlands
33 Slovenia
35 Romania
36 Israel
38 Turkey
48 Luxembourg
58 Tunisia - promoted from EAZ Group II
63 Latvia - promoted from EAZ Group II
(there will be one pool of 5 next year, as there was in 2006, the last time there were 17 teams in Group I)
The teams that were in Group I last year but will not be returning in 2014 are Poland, who won promotion to World Group II, and Bosnia Hercegovina & Georgia, who both got relegated this year.