Zurich: Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal must beat Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sweden in a playoff to advance to the World Cup in Brazil.
The two were drawn to face each other on Monday in a two-leg series scheduled for November 15 and 19.
Also, France will play Ukraine, with the return match in Paris, and Greece was paired with Romania.
Iceland, the lowest ranked of the eight teams at No. 46 in the world, will host the first leg against Croatia, which fired its coach last week.
The four winners will complete Europe's 13 entries in the 32-team World Cup draw on December 6 in Salvador, Brazil.
Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic were consigned to the playoffs after their teams finished second in their qualifying groups behind Russia and Germany, respectively.
Portugal also had to advance to the 2010 World Cup through a playoff, after twice drawing 0-0 with Sweden in the group.
France, the 2006 World Cup runner-up, also make their second straight trip to the playoffs. Four years ago, a notorious handball by Thierry Henry helped France beat Ireland in extra time.
France and Ukraine last met in a 2012 European Championship match which was delayed several minutes after kick off by a torrential rain storm in Donetsk. France eventually won 2-0.
Iceland, which has a population of about 315,000, aims to become the smallest country ever to play at the World Cup. That record is held by 2006 qualifier Trinidad and Tobago, which had about 1.2 million.
Iceland coach Lars Lagerback is aiming for his fourth straight World Cup with three different teams. He coached his native Sweden at the 2002 and 2006 tournaments, and Nigeria in 2010.
Croatia's playoff matches will mark the coaching debut of Niko Kovac. The 42-year-old Kovac stepped up from coaching the under-21 team to replace Igor Stimac, who was fired after a series of poor results.
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