World Cup 2022: What is the state of play outside of Europe in qualifying for Qatar? | Football News
It is crunch time on the road to Qatar 2022 but with the European slots nearly done and dusted, there are still several spaces left for nations across the globe.
The qualification picture for next year’s World Cup in Qatar is starting to emerge with 14 of the 32 finalists now known.
But while Portugal and Italy are heading for the nervy and newly-designed European play-offs, which established footballing nations are also sweating over their place at next winter’s showpiece event? We take a look at the state of play involving the other confederations.
Hosts
Qualified: Qatar
Europe – UEFA (13 places total)
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal will play in March’s World Cup play-offs to try and reach Qatar 2022
Qualified: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland.
To be decided: A 12-team play-off tournament next March will determine Europe’s final three qualifiers.
Scotland and Wales could face off for a place at next year’s World Cup should they defeat Ukraine and Austria in their respective play-off semi-finals.
Both nations were drawn in Path A, with Scotland facing Ukraine at Hampden Park and Wales welcoming Austria to Cardiff.
Italy and Portugal were drawn in Path C, meaning they could face one another in the final game and now cannot both qualify for next year’s tournament in Qatar.
When are the play-offs in Europe?
Path A
Scotland vs Ukraine – Thursday, March 24 (7.45pm kick-off) – live on Sky Sports
Wales vs Austria – Thursday, March 24 (7.45pm kick-off) – live on Sky Sports
Path B
Russia vs Poland – Thursday, March 24 (5.00pm kick-off) – live on Sky Sports
Sweden vs Czech Republic – Thursday, March 24 (7.45pm kick-off) – live on Sky Sports
Path C
Italy vs North Macedonia – Thursday, March 24 (7.45pm kick-off) – live on Sky Sports
Portugal vs Turkey – Thursday, March 24 (7.45pm kick-off) – live on Sky Sports
Play-off finals: Tuesday, March 29 – live on Sky Sports
South America – CONMEBOL (4/5 places)
Brazil and Argentina have both qualified
Qualified: Argentina, Brazil.
Brazil top the 10-team South American qualifying section with 36 points and Argentina have 32, eight clear of third-placed Ecuador.
Chile saw their chances of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup shrink dramatically after a 2-1 home loss to second-place Argentina.
Goalkeeper Alisson was sent off twice only for the VAR to rescind both red cards as Brazil were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw against Ecuador in an action-packed World Cup qualifier.
The top four teams qualify automatically, and the fifth-placed side go into an inter-regional play-off.
To be decided: There are four rounds of fixtures remaining in South America’s 10-team qualifying competition, from which the top four qualify automatically.
The fifth-placed side will get another chance in the intercontinental play-offs*.
Ecuador and Uruguay currently occupy the remaining two automatic spots with Colombia in fifth but Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay are all still in contention.
*The intercontinental play-offs will see one side from Asia, South America, North/Central America/Caribbean and Oceania play two-legged ties to determine the last two berths. They will take place in June 2022.
Asia – AFC (4/5 places)
Heung-Min Son is hoping to reach Qatar 2022 with South Korea
The top two finishers in both of Asia’s qualifying groups advance automatically to Qatar 2022 while the teams in third spot will progress to a series of play-offs.
The top two in each group automatically qualify with the two third-placed sides facing each other for the right to play in the intercontinental play-offs.
Qualified: Iran.
To be decided: There are three rounds of fixtures remaining in the final 12-team stage of qualifying, in which teams are divided into two groups of six.
Iran became the first Asian nation to qualify for November’s World Cup when a goal from Mehdi Taremi secured Dragan Skocic’s side a 1-0 victory over neighbours Iraq.
Porto striker Taremi struck three minutes into the second half at the Azadi Stadium to leave Iran top of Group A and seal their spot in Qatar.
The win delivers qualification for a third consecutive World Cup finals for the Iranians, after appearances in Brazil and Russia, and the country’s sixth in total.
The United Arab Emirates kept their slim hopes of automatic qualification for the Qatar World Cup alive on Thursday with a 2-0 win over Syria in Group A of Asia’s preliminaries in Dubai.
Failure to defeat Tita Valeriu’s Syria side would have left the UAE 11 points adrift of South Korea and out of the running for second place in the group after the East Asians claimed a 1-0 win over Lebanon earlier in the day.
But Caio Canedo scored two minutes before half-time to give Bert van Marwijk’s UAE team the lead and Yahya Al Ghassani doubled his side’s advantage 20 minutes from time to earn the UAE a win that puts Korean qualification on hold.
The UAE remain third in Group A, eight points behind the second-placed Koreans and a further two points adrift of Iran.
In Group B, Saudi Arabia remain in pole position thanks to a 1-0 win over Oman in Jeddah that ensured Herve Renard’s side cannot finish outside the top three in the standings.
Firas Al Buraikan bundled the ball over the line from close range three minutes into the second half when goalkeeper Faiyz Al Rashidi parried Sultan Al Ghannam’s ball across the face of goal.
The Saudis move onto 19 points, four clear of second-placed Japan and a further point ahead of Australia as Renard’s side guaranteed themselves the minimum of a place in the playoff rounds.
Australia thrashed Vietnam 4-0 in Melbourne while Japan downed a poor China side 2-0 at Saitama Stadium.
The two third-placed teams in each group from the third round will play against each other in a single match to determine which team advances to the inter-confederation play-offs*.
*The intercontinental play-offs will see one side from Asia, South America, North/Central America/Caribbean and Oceania play two-legged ties to determine the last two berths. They will take place in June 2022.
Africa – CAF (five places)
Sadio Mane and Senegal are still in the mix for one of five African berths
All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF entered qualification and the second round has just finished.
Among the nations to have failed to progress from the second round are Togo, South Africa, Gabon and Ivory Coast.
For Ivory Coast, their failure to reach Qatar is being viewed back home as a disaster given their wealth of talent. The country made the 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cups, before failing to qualify in 2018.
Qualified: None.
To be decided: The third round will take place next year, when the 10 teams will be drawn into five two-legged ties with the aggregate winners representing Africa in Qatar. The two-legged ties will be played between March 24-29.
Those involved are Algeria, Cameroon, DR Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia.
All but one of the 10 countries that have advanced to the last stage of Africa’s World Cup qualifiers will have another matter on their immediate agenda before determining who plays at the 2022 finals in Qatar.
Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia are all on course to qualify for Qatar but compete at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in January before switching focus back to World Cup qualification in March.
Only the Democratic Republic of Congo are through to the last round of Africa’s World Cup preliminaries despite having flopped in the Cup of Nations qualifiers this year.
North/Central America & Caribbean – CONCACAF (3/4 places)
Alphonso Davies has helped Canada to the top of the group
Qualified: None
To be decided: There is still plenty to play for with six rounds of fixtures remaining in the eight-team final qualifying group. The top three sides qualify automatically with fourth place heading to the intercontinental play-offs.
Canada reclaimed top spot in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying with a 2-0 win over Honduras in the most recent round of matches, after the United States briefly led the standings thanks to their 1-0 win over El Salvador.
Mexico trailed 1-0 to Jamaica with less than 10 minutes left before Henry Martin and Alexis Vega scored from close range to snatch victory in Kingston.
Canada top the table on 19 points, one ahead of the United States, with Mexico third on 17 points.
The top three sides qualify automatically for the World Cup in Qatar, with the fourth-placed team, currently Panama on 14 points, going into an intercontinental playoff.
*The intercontinental play-offs will see one side from Asia, South America, North/Central America/Caribbean and Oceania play two-legged ties to determine the last two berths. They will take place in June 2022.
Oceania – OFC (0/1 place)
Qualified: None
To be decided: Oceania has not been able to hold national-team competitions since late 2019 due to the impact of COVID-19. Due to lingering travel and quarantine restrictions, March 2022 presents the first – and indeed last – opportunity for the preliminary competition to take place.
The format, dates and draw procedures for the OFC preliminary competition for the FIFA World Cup 2022 have been confirmed.
Nine teams will participate, following the withdrawal of American Samoa and Samoa. The OFC qualifiers will be played in a mini-tournament format featuring eight teams and consisting of a round-robin group stage, semi-finals and the final.
A single qualification match will be played between the two lowest-ranked OFC member associations (those ranked eighth and ninth based on the FIFA World Ranking) for the right to take part in the preliminary competition mini-tournament.
All matches will take place in the central location of Qatar in March 2022. As the OFC has 0.5 slots for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, these qualifiers will determine the OFC representative that will play in the FIFA intercontinental play-off matches.*
Based on this format, the drawing of lots is required for the group stage of the mini-tournament to determine the paths of the eight participating teams by allocating them to two groups.
The competition will run from March 14 to March 30 2022 to ensure a minimum of two rest days between games as well as before the first game following long-distance travel.
Therefore, the Bureau of the Council has decided to add a day to the existing International Match Calendar window for the OFC, thus including the final three games of the mini-tournament, making it March 21 to March 30 2022.
*The intercontinental play-offs will see one side from Asia, South America, North/Central America/Caribbean and Oceania play two-legged ties to determine the last two berths. They will take place in June 2022.
What is the World Cup format and schedule?
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will feature 32 teams in eight groups of four.
Four matches will be played each day during the group stage, which will run over a 12-day period and see winners and runners-up progress to the round of 16.
Matches will only be assigned to particular venues after the finals draw, so organisers can choose optimal kick-off times to suit television audiences in different countries, as well as supporters in Qatar.
The finals draw is scheduled to take place in April 2022, after the March window for international fixtures.
Unlike at Euro 2020, there will be a third-place play-off game on December 17.
Group stage: November 21- December 2
Round of 16: December 3-6
Quarter-finals: December 9/10
Semi-finals: December 13/14
Final: December 18
When will the matches kick off?
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Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow says he has concerns for both players and fans, as the Qatar 2022 World Cup will mean a five week break in Premier League next winter
FIFA has confirmed the first two rounds of matches will kick off at 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 10pm local time (10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm in the United Kingdom).
Kick-off times in the final round of group games and knock-out round matches will be at 6pm and 10pm local time (3pm and 7pm UK time).
The final is scheduled to kick off at 6pm local time (3pm UK time)
What are the venues?
This computer-generated image shows an artists impression of Ras Abu Aboud Stadium in the host city of Doha
The group games will take place across eight stadia: Al Bayt Stadium, Khalifa International Stadium, Al Thumama Stadium, Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Lusail Stadium, Ras Abu Aboud Stadium, Education City Stadium and Al Janoub Stadium.
What happens to the Premier League in 2022/23?
The Premier League has confirmed key dates for the 2022/23 campaign, with the season adjusted to accommodate a World Cup that takes place in the middle of the domestic calendar.
The season will start a week earlier than normal on August 6 2022, with 16 matchdays taking place up to the weekend of November 12/13, before the tournament kicks off on November 21.
The Premier League will resume on Boxing Day following the World Cup final, which takes place on December 18.
The final match round of the 2022/23 season will be played on May 28 2023.
