WORLD CUP 2022. A few months before the 2022 World Cup and a few days before the draw in Qatar, find the latest news.
[Mis à jour le 23 mars 2022 à 09h00] The 2022 World Cup is coming! Friday April 1, 7 months before the official start of the World Cup in Qatar (November 21), FIFA is organizing the draw for the group stage, the first major meeting for the teams and all the supporters. For this draw, all the qualified teams will not yet be known since due to the war between Ukraine and Russia, the play-off between the Ukrainians and the Scots has been postponed to a later date. In addition, tickets for the South America and Oceania zone will be allocated in June after the play-offs.
At the time of writing, 15 countries have qualified with the host country, Qatar, but also Brazil, France, Germany, England and Iran. The World Cup will start on November 21, an unusual date due to the climatic conditions in Qatar which forced Fifa to organize the competition in the middle of winter. Consequently, the calendar of the various championships will also be turned upside down and the preparation phase delicate for all the nations. In its press release to present the modalities of the draw, Fifa tried to reassure the nations by explaining that “the group stage of the 2022 World Cup will be spread over 12 days, with four matches per day. The teams will benefit optimal rest time”.
In addition, this Wednesday, March 23, football fans will be able to obtain a ticket for the future World Cup via the “first come, first served.“
A total of 32 teams, including 13 European, will participate in the 2022 World Cup. With Qatar already assured of its participation as the host country, 31 other countries must therefore obtain their qualification in the coming weeks, through the qualifiers organized on each continent. Here are the countries guaranteed to participate in the competition:
- Qatar (host country)
- Germany
- Denmark
- Brazil
- France
- Belgium
- Serbia
- Spain
- Croatia
- Swiss
- England
- Netherlands
- Argentina
- Iran
- South Korea
End of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in the Europe zone with Italy and Portugal having to go through the play-offs to validate their tickets for Qatar. The list of teams for Europe:
- Scotland
- Italy
- North Macedonia
- Portugal
- Poland
- Russia
- Sweden
- Austria
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- Wales
- Czech Republic
The list of qualified teams for the play-offs in Africa which will take place on March 25 and 29.
- mali
- Egypt
- Morocco
- Senegal
- Ghana
- DR Congo
- Algeria
- Cameroon
- Nigeria
- Tunisia
Change of format for the dams. They will have to face two teams to win a ticket. Twelve play-offs will be on the starting line on March 24 and 25, with the ten best runners-up from each group as well as the two best group winners from the last Nations League. These will be divided between three lanes, the two winners of each lane will meet in the final (on a dry match as well) on March 28 and 29, 2022.
The World Cup play-off draw:
The draw for path A:
- Scotland – Ukraine (postponed)
- Wales – Austria
The draw for path B
- Russia – Poland (cancelled)
- Sweden – Czech Republic
The draw for path C
- Italy – North Macedonia
- Portugal – Turkey
Draw of dams in Africa:
- Democratic Republic of Congo – Morocco
- Cameroon – Algeria
- Mali – Tunisia
- Egypt – Senegal
- Ghana – Nigeria
Europe will have 13 qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup. Qualifying is organized by UEFA in a single round, with a series of home and away matches in ten groups, followed by play-offs. The top ten from each group will qualify directly for Qatar and the runners-up ten will advance to the play-offs, where they will be joined by the two 2020-21 Nations League group winners. These play-offs will deliver the 3 additional qualifiers. The composition of the ten qualifying groups was determined by draw last December:
• Groups:
- Group A: Portugal, Serbia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan.
- Group B: Spain, Sweden, Greece, Georgia, Kosovo.
- Group C: Italy, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Lithuania.
- Group D: FranceUkraine, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan.
- Group E: Belgium, Wales, Czech Republic, Belarus, Estonia.
- Group F: Denmark, Austria, Scotland, Israel, Faroe Islands, Moldova.
- Group G: Netherlands, Turkey, Norway, Montenegro, Latvia, Gibraltar.
- Group H: Croatia, Slovakia, Russia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta.
- Group I: England, Poland, Hungary, Albania, Andorra, San Marino.
- Group J: Germany, Romania, Iceland, North Macedonia, Armenia, Liechtenstein.
• Ranking :
Africa will have 5 qualifiers. The playoffs are organized in three rounds. The second is underway and the first of each group will qualify for the third final round.
Asia will have 5 or 6 qualifiers. Qatar, the host country, is already qualified but participates in the meetings which also count as a qualifying round for the Asian Cup 2023 in China. The playoffs are organized in 4 rounds. For the current third round, the first two of each group will be directly qualified for the World Cup. The two third-place finishers face each other in the fourth round for a place in the inter-confederation play-offs.
Australia is competing in the World Cup qualifiers in Asia. Oceania for its part will have 1 or 0 qualified. Qualifications are underway to secure a place for the inter-confederation play-offs.
North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) will have 3 or 4 qualifiers. After several phases, a final round is underway in a single group. The first three will qualify for the World Cup and the fourth can participate in the inter-confederation play-offs.
South America (CONMEBOL) will have 4 or 5 qualifiers. The qualifications are organized in a single qualifying group with home and away matches. The first four are directly qualified for the World Cup, the fifth for the inter-confederation play-offs.
It was in December 2010 that Qatar was named host country of this World Cup, being preferred to the four other candidates: Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States. A controversial choice which has continued, over the years, to give rise to controversy against a backdrop of accusations of corruption at the time of appointment, of slavery on the construction sites of the stadiums, and on the climate of the country. Given the high heat recorded in summer (the period when the competition is usually played), sometimes with peaks of 50°C, this 2022 World Cup has also had to be postponed to new dates.
To cope with these climatic constraints, FIFA has indeed decided to organize this World Cup in winter, for the first time in its history. The date of the opening match has thus been set for November 21, 2022, while the grand final will take place on December 18, 2022, Qatar’s national day.
Latest news around the 2022 World Cup
The group stage of the 2022 World Cup will take place from November 21 to December 2. The first two of each group will qualify for the round of 16, scheduled for December 3, 4, 5 and 6. It will then be time for the quarter-finals, scheduled for December 9 and 10, then the semi-finals, on December 13 and 14. The match for third place will take place on December 17 and the final on Sunday December 18, one week before Christmas.
On its website, Fifa explains that “payments for tickets allocated during the first sales period with random selection procedure (draw), which ended on February 8, 2022, are no longer accepted. Fans can re-apply for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ tickets during the first-come, first-served sales phase of the sales phase (1) which begins on 23 March 2022 at 11:00 a.m. CET / 1:00 p.m. Doha time and ends on March 29, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. CET / 12:00 p.m. (noon) Doha time. During this sales period, tickets will be allocated on a “first come, first served” basis and ticket purchases are treated as a real-time transaction (subject to availability). Ticket applicants will immediately receive confirmation that their order has been fulfilled.”