2022 FIFA World Cup qualification

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification

The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers began in June 2019 and are expected to finish in June 2022. Qatar, as hosts, qualified automatically for the tournament. For the first time after the initial two tournaments of 1930 and 1934, the World Cup will be hosted by a country whose national team has never played a finals match before.

About 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification in brief

Summary 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationThe 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers began in June 2019 and are expected to finish in June 2022. Qatar, as hosts, qualified automatically for the tournament. The opening two rounds of qualifying also serve as qualification for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. For the first time after the initial two tournaments of 1930 and 1934, the World Cup will be hosted by a country whose national team has never played a finals match before. If Russia qualifies for the final tournament, its players will not be able to use the country name alone, flag or anthem as a result of the nation’s two-year ban from world championships and Olympic Games in all sports. The formats of the qualifying competitions depended on each confederation. Each round might be played in either of the following formats: In league format, the ranking of teams in each group is based on the following criteria : In cases where teams finishing in the same position across different groups are compared for determining which teams advance to the next stage, the criteria are dependent on the competition format and require the approval of FIFA.

In knockout format, the team that has the higher aggregate score over the two legs progresses to thenext round. If no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by penalty shoot-out. The current World Cup qualifying process has been compromised due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 27, CONCACAF announced a reversion to the format used for its 2014 World Cup qualification competition. The CONBOL Council decided on 24 January 2019 to maintain the same qualification structure used for the previous ten tournaments.