Held every four years, the FIFA World Cup sees 32 nations compete against each other for the ultimate prize. With continental qualification pathways leading to an exhilarating finals event, it brings football fans together all over the world to share the passion and love for the game.
In December 2010, Qatar won the right to host the FIFA World Cup 2022 and became the first Middle Eastern country to do so.
The FIFA World Cup qualification is the qualifying process which will determine 31 out of the 32 teams that will play in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Being the host, team Qatar has received an automatic spot.
FIFA's six continental confederations organize their very own qualifying matches.
All FIFA member associations (currently there are 211) are allowed to enter qualification.
Qatar, as hosts of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, has qualified automatically for the tournament. However, the AFC obliged Qatar to join in the Asian qualifying stage as the first two rounds also act as qualification for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. If the Qatar team gets to the final stage as winners in their group or as one of the four best runners-up, the 5th best team will advance instead.
The reigning World Cup champions France will also go through the qualifying stages.
Initially, Saint Lucia entered qualification but withdrew from it prior to their first match. The same goes for North Korea, who also withdrew from the qualifying round because of safety concerns related to the pandemic.
The allotment of slots for each confederation was deliberated by the FIFA Executive Committee on May 2015 in Zurich after the FIFA Congress. The committee decided that the same allocation used in 2006, 2010 and 2014 would be retained for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
Confederation
|
|
Slots
|
CAF
|
Africa
|
5
|
AFC
|
Asia
|
4.5 (not including host nation)
|
UEFA
|
Europe
|
13
|
CONCACAF
|
North and Central America and Caribbean
|
3.5
|
OFC
|
Oceania
|
0.5
|
CONMEBOL
|
South America
|
4.5
|
Host
|
|
1
|
The first qualifying matches were held in June 6, 2019 in the Asian qualifying tournament, with Mongolia beating Brunei 2-0 on June 6 - the time when Mongolian player Normoogiin Tsedenbal scored the very first goal of qualifying.
Due to concerns about the intense summer heat in Qatar, leading football clubs in Europe voiced out that they wanted the 2022 World Cup to take place from April 28 to May 29 rather than the usual June and July schedule.
Eventually, the 2022 World Cup has been scheduled from November 21 to December 18, 2022. This makes it the first tournament not to be held in May, June or July, and it is to be played in a reduced timeframe of about 28 days.
Who do you think will win the 2022 World Cup?
Will it be Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain or the United States? or any other country team you have in mind?
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Source: https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/qatar2022/qualifiers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup