FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers: As it Stands
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By Martin Graham | 31st Mar 2022
The international break is over and more teams have been confirmed as participants at the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup.
This year’s tournament is the first to be hosted by an Arab nation in the Middle East in its 93-year history. It is also going to be the smallest World Cup ever in terms of distance, as all the host stadiums are in and around Qatar’s capital city of Doha.
It will also be the last World Cup to have 32 teams participating as the format and number of participants will change starting from the next edition in 2026 which will be hosted by USA, Mexico and Canada.
UEFA (Europe) and CAF (Africa) wrapped up their qualification matches and now have their full list of representatives among the 32 nations who will be doing battle in Qatar from November 21, 2022 to December 18, 2022.
CONCACAF (North America and the Caribbeans), CONMEBOL (South America), AFC (Asia), and OFC (Oceania) have also completed their qualification matches, but will see some of their teams participate in inter-confederational qualifiers in June to secure some more slots at the World Cup.
CAF will have five representatives and UEFA will have 13 representatives at the World Cup. CONMEBOL and AFC will have four representatives each with the opportunity to make it five if their last teams win their inter-confederational qualifier matches in June. CONCACAF will have three representatives with the opportunity to make it four based on the same stipulations as AFC and CONMEBOL.
OFC have one slot at the global showpiece, but will have to play in the inter-confederational playoffs to be represented.
After the latest international break wrapped up, the June inter-confederational playoffs will see the team from the AFC region take on the team from CONMEBOL region, and the team from the CONCACAF region take on the OFC team.
The qualifies nations for the global showpiece are: Qatar (hosts), Germany, Denmark, Brazil, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland, Netherlands, Argentina, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Canada, Ghana, Senegal, Portugal, Poland, Tunisia, Morocco, and Cameroon.
The last UEFA slot is to be determined in June, after the match between Ukraine and Scotland was postponed due to Russia’s invasion of their country.
Wales will face the winner of that fixture to determine Europe’s last representative at the 2022 World Cup.
Martin Graham is an MFF sports writer
