Countries classified for the Qatar 2022 World Cup and those that are missing
On this last qualifying date, each confederation defined the countries that will go directly to the Qatar 2022 World Cup, as well as those that must play their last playoff game to get the last places, namely there are 29 inside and another 3 positions still to be defined.
It should be noted that the World Cup this time will be held in Qatar from November 21 to December 18. The reason for this is that the months in which the World Cup is normally held (June-July) coincide with the summer in Qatar where temperatures range between 31° (minimum) and 41° (maximum) with an average of 37°.
The warmest month is July, which is precisely why the Qatar league takes place from September 11 to mid-March, and teams usually prefer to train at night.
Qatar, as the host, is the first ranked team in the World Cup, which will open with the opening match that will take place on Monday, November 21 at the Al Bayt Stadium, with a capacity for 60,000 spectators. However, it is necessary to know by area which are the classified teams and the places that remain to be defined.
Europe (12 qualified and one to be defined)
UEFA (Union of European Football Federations) provides 13 countries with direct passes for the World Cup. However, it is important to mention that the European qualifiers have a very particular format. 55 teams dispute their ticket to the World Cup divided into 10 groups (5 groups of 5 teams and 5 groups of 6).
The modality is all against all in round-trip matches, whose leaders qualify directly, but those who remain second go to a playoff which, in turn, are included in 3 new groups to which are added the two best teams from the League of Nations.
The format of these new groups is single match and direct elimination. The winners of these groups will face each other in a single match and the winners will have their place in the World Cup. The 12 teams already classified are:
Germany.
Spain.
France.
Denmark.
Croatia.
Serbian.
Belgium.
England.
Swiss.
Netherlands.
Portugal.
Poland.
The last one will be decided from the playoff match between Wales and the one that results from the confrontation between Scotland and Ukraine that was postponed due to the Russian invasion and that will take place on June 2. In the same month the final will take place between the winner of that game and Wales.
South America (4.5 classified)
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) qualifiers are played by 10 teams in a round-robin round robin format (each team must play in its own country and that of the rival).
Four teams qualify directly, of which the first was Brazil, which reached 45 points on the last date, Argentina achieved second place with 39, while Uruguay and Ecuador culminate the list with 28 and 26, respectively. These last two were defined on date 17, but in the last one, Peru achieved the fifth place that takes it to the intercontinental playoff.
Peru will face on June 13 in Doha, Qatar the winner of the confrontation of Australia vs. United Arab Emirates to be held on June 7.
North America, Central America and the Caribbean (3.5 classified)
The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) implements a knockout format with 30 teams in the first round. These are distributed in 6 groups with 5 teams each. Those who remain first advance to the next round.
In the second phase, the 6 teams face two-way direct elimination duels.
The 3 winners go on to the next and final phase, where the top 5 CONCACAF qualifiers appear to join the 3 that come from phase two and will now play round-trip matches all against all.
Three qualify directly and the first of them was Canada (28 points), but this Wednesday the other two places were defined, to which Mexico (28) and the United States (25) were added.
Costa Rica (25) was in fourth place on goal difference and will play the playoff on June 14 in Doha (Qatar) against New Zealand, which today beat the Solomon Islands 0-5.
Africa (5 qualified)
The African Football Confederation (CAF) provides 5 teams that qualify directly for the World Cup, which are Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Ghana and Cameroon.
The knockout format consists of three phases. The first is preliminary and was made up of 28 teams with the lowest FIFA ranking for the month of July 2019.
These teams met in 14 two-team series where they played single-elimination home-and-away matches. The 14 winners went on to the second phase.
These 14 teams joined 26 others and made up the group stage. In total there were 40 selections and they were assigned to 10 groups of 4 teams. The format of this phase was all against all in round-trip matches, where the 10 winners went on to the final phase.
The 10 who passed were grouped into 5 couples with round-trip matches where the 5 winners qualified directly for the World Cup.
Asia (4.5 qualifiers)
In the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) four teams qualify directly, where Iran, South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia obtained the pass, while Australia will face the United Arab Emirates in Doha (Qatar) on June 7 for the winner faces Peru on the 13th of the same month in the intercontinental playoff.
The qualifiers are also held in two phases. In the first, 40 teams are assigned in 8 groups of 5 teams each. They face each other in round-trip matches where the leaders and the four best seconds, 12 in total, go to the next phase.
In the second phase, two groups of six teams are established and they face each other, where the first two of each group (4 in total) qualify directly for the World Cup, while the two third parties face each other in a final playoff match to, thus, obtain the intercontinental playoff position against the CONMEBOL team.
Oceania (half place in intercontinental playoff match)
The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) only provides half a ticket for the World Cup. The knockout format is divided into three rounds with the first being a group stage. 4 teams out of 11 that make up the zone play in a single match in an all-against-all format. The winner goes to the next phase.
The winner joins the remaining 7 selections. Two groups are formed and in single matches all against all. The best three of each group qualify for the next round and those 6 teams, in the last phase, make up two groups and in round-trip format all against all.
The two winners of each group face each other in a round-trip match where the winner will face CONCACAF on June 14 in Doha (QATAR). In this case it will be New Zealand against Costa Rica.