Qatar automatically qualified for the World Cup 2022 as they are the host country.
From 2019 to 2022, each of the 6 continents had qualifiers and Inter-confederation play-offs. Due to the impact of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the competition method has become irregular in some cases.
Costa Rica beat New Zealand to win the last ticket in the Inter-confederation play-offs.
Table of contents
Number of teams to qualify:
European qualifiers:
South American qualifiers:
Asian qualifiers:
African qualifiers:
North, Central American and Caribbean qualifiers:
Oceanian qualifiers:
Inter-confederation play-offs:
Author:
Number of teams to qualify:
Total: 32 countries
Host: 1
Europe: 13
South America: 4.5
Asia: 4.5
Africa: 5
North, Central American and Caribbean: 3.5
Oceania: 0.5
European qualifiers:
1st round (Group stage):
Participating teams are divided into 10 groups and play in a round-robin match, with the top team from each group qualifies.
2nd round (European Play-offs):
A total of 12 teams, including the 2nd place teams in each group stage (10 teams) and the top 2 teams among the 3rd and lower teams in each group stage of the Nations League, make the play-offs. Divided into 3 groups of 4 teams, and play only 1 match each. The 3 winning teams qualify.
Outcome:
Wales beat Ukraine 1-0 in the European play-off Path A final. Ukraine came in with the public’s expectations on their shoulders, but they were 1 goal short and the players collapsed. Although they couldn’t qualify for the World Cup at just 1 step away, the match attracted a lot of attention and many praised Ukraine for their efforts in the face of adversity.
Poland defeated Sweden in the Path B final. Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic was suspended while Poland’s Robert Lewandowski scored a goal, splitting the bright and dark between the distinguished forwards.
Euro 2020 champions Italy and Euro 2016 champions Portugal were in Pass C. There was a big upset that Italy lost to North Macedonia. It was a shock to the fans that the virtuoso, who has won the World Cup four times, failed to qualify for the finals for the first time in 2 consecutive tournaments. Meanwhile, Portugal qualified for the finals after defeating North Macedonia 2-0 in the final.
Serbia (Group A winners)
Spain (Group B winners)
Switzerland (Group C winners)
France (Group D winners)
Belgium (Group E winners)
Denmark (Group F winners)
Netherlands (Group G winners)
Croatia (Group H winners)
England (Group I winners)
Germany (Group J Winners)
Wales (European Play-off Path A winners)
Poland (European Play-off Path B winners)
Portugal (European Play-off Path C winners)
South American qualifiers:
All 10 teams compete in a round-robin, and the top 4 nations participate in the finals. 5th place goes to the Inter-confederation play-offs.
Outcome:
One match between Brazil and Argentina was cancelled, but the standings remained unchanged.
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador have qualified.
5th place, Peru lost to Australia in the Inter-confederation play-offs.
Table:
| P | Team | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Brazil | 40 | 5 | +35 | 45 |
| 2 | Argentina | 27 | 8 | +19 | 39 |
| 3 | Uruguay | 22 | 22 | 0 | 28 |
| 4 | Ecuador | 27 | 19 | +8 | 26 |
| 5 | Peru | 19 | 22 | −3 | 24 |
| 6 | Colombia | 20 | 19 | +1 | 23 |
| 7 | Chile | 19 | 26 | −7 | 19 |
| 8 | Paraguay | 12 | 26 | −14 | 16 |
| 9 | Bolivia | 23 | 42 | −19 | 15 |
| 10 | Venezuela | 14 | 34 | −10 | 10 |
Asian qualifiers:
1st round:
In the 1st round, the bottom 12 teams in the ranking are divided into 6 groups of 2 teams, and the winning 6 teams advance to the 2nd round.
2nd round:
The top 33 teams in the ranking participate from the 2nd round. 40 teams, including the host country Qatar, were divided into 8 groups of 5 teams, and played a home-and-away round-robin format. 12 teams, consisting of the 1st place team in each group and the 4 teams with the highest results among the 2nd place teams in each group, advanced to the 3rd round.
3rd round:
In the 3rd round, the 12 teams are divided into 2 groups of 6 teams, and home-and-away round-robin matches take place. The top 2 teams from each group qualify for the tournament. The 3rd place teams from each group advance to the 4th round (Asian play-off), and the winners advance to the Inter-confederation play-offs.
Outcome:
Iran (Group A winners), Korea (Group A runners-up), Saudi Arabia (Group B winners) and Japan (Group B runners-up) qualified in the 3rd round.
Australia qualified for the finals after defeating the United Arab Emirates in the Asian play-off and Peru in the sequent Inter-confederation play-offs. A total of 6 countries, including the host country Qatar, participate in the finals.
Qatar
Iran
Korea
Saudi Arabia
Japan
Australia
3rd round Group A Table:
| P | Team | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Iran | 15 | 4 | 11 | 25 |
| 2 | South Korea | 13 | 3 | 10 | 23 |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | 7 | 7 | 0 | 12 |
| 4 | Iraq | 6 | 12 | −6 | 9 |
| 5 | Syria | 9 | 16 | −7 | 6 |
| 6 | Lebanon | 6 | 14 | −8 | 6 |
3rd round Group B Table:
| P | Team | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Saudi Arabia | 15 | 4 | 6 | 23 |
| 2 | Japan | 13 | 3 | 8 | 22 |
| 3 | Australia | 7 | 7 | 6 | 15 |
| 4 | Oman | 6 | 12 | 1 | 14 |
| 5 | China | 9 | 16 | −10 | 6 |
| 6 | Vietnam | 6 | 14 | −11 | 4 |
4th round (Asian play-off)：
07/06/2022.
Al Rayyan, Qatar
Ahmad bin Ali Stadium
Attendance: 6,500
United Arab Emirates (3rd place Group A) 1–2 Australia (3rd place Group B)
Goal:
53′ (Australia) Jackson Irvine
57′ (United Arab Emirates) Caio Canedo
84′ (Australia) Ajdin Hrustic
African qualifiers:
1st round:
28 bottom teams of the ranking are divided into 14 groups of 2 teams and play home and away, and the winning 14 teams advance to the 2nd qualifying round.
2nd round:
40 teams are divided into 10 groups of 4 teams, and a home-and-away round-robin is held. The top team from each group advances to the 3rd qualifying round.
3rd round:
The 10 teams are divided into 5 groups of 2 teams and play home-and-away, with the winning 5 teams advancing to the finals.
Outcome:
Powerhouses, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire entered Group D of the 2nd qualifying round, and Côte d’Ivoire was eliminated as 2nd place in the group.
In the 3rd qualifying round, each team play 2 matches, and the format is very tense as the teams get narrowed down to 5 teams from 10 teams. Powerhouse countries such as Egypt, Algeria and Nigeria missed out on the World Cup. The aggregate scores for them were all draws to be eliminated.
Ghana
Senegal
Tunisia
Morocco
Cameroon
3rd round Matches:
| Team | Agg. | Team |
| Egypt | 1–1 (1–3 p) | Senegal☆ |
| Cameroon☆ | 2–2 (a) | Algeria |
| Ghana☆ | 1–1 (a) | Nigeria |
| DR Congo | 2–5 | Morocco☆ |
| Mali | 0–1 | Tunisia☆ |
North, Central American and Caribbean qualifiers:
1st round:
The 30 teams other than the top 5 teams in the ranking are divided into 6 groups of 5 teams, and single round-robin matches are played, then the top team in each group advances to the 2nd qualifying round.
2nd round:
The 6 teams are divided into 3 groups of 2 teams and play in a home-and-away format, with the winner of each group advancing to the 3rd round.
3rd round:
A total of 8 teams, the 3 teams that advanced from the 2nd qualifying round and the top 5 teams in the ranking, play a home-and-away round-robin format. The top 3 teams qualify for the World Cup finals. The 4th-place team advances to the Inter-confederation play-offs.
Outcome:
Canada, who participated in the 1st qualifying round, took 1st place in the 3rd qualifying round and qualified for the finals for the first time in 36 years.
Costa Rica qualified for the finals after defeating New Zealand in the Inter-confederation play-offs.
Canada
Mexico
United States of America
Costa Rica
3rd round Table:
| P | Team | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Canada | 23 | 7 | 16 | 28 |
| 2 | Mexico | 17 | 8 | 9 | 28 |
| 3 | USA | 21 | 10 | 11 | 25 |
| 4 | Costa Rica | 13 | 8 | 5 | 25 |
| 5 | Panama | 17 | 19 | −2 | 21 |
| 6 | Jamaica | 12 | 22 | −10 | 11 |
| 7 | El Salvador | 8 | 18 | −10 | 10 |
| 8 | Honduras | 7 | 26 | −19 | 4 |
Oceanian qualifiers:
1st round (Group Stage):
After the preliminary qualifiers, the 11 teams are divided into 2 groups and play against each other in the centralised format, with the top 2 teams from each group advancing to the knockout stage.
2nd round (Knockout stage):
4 teams compete in the tournament in a home-and-away format, with the winners advancing to the Inter-confederation play-offs.
Outcome:
American Samoa, Samoa and Tonga withdrew due to various reasons. New Zealand defeated the Solomon Islands in the final to qualify for the Inter-confederation play-offs. However, New Zealand missed out on the World Cup finals after losing to Costa Rica in the Inter-confederation play-offs.
Final:
30/03/2022.
Doha, Qatar
Al–Arabi Stadium
Attendance: 0
Solomon Islands (Winners Group A) 1–2 New Zealand (Winners Group B)
Goal:
23′ (New Zealand) Bill Tuiloma
39′ (New Zealand) Chris Wood
50′ (New Zealand) Joe Bell
70′ (New Zealand) Bill Tuiloma
90+1′ (New Zealand) Matthew Garbett
Inter-confederation play-offs:
1 country in Asia and 1 country in the North, Central American and Caribbean play against each other. 1 country in South America and 1 country in Oceania play against each other. The right to qualify for the World Cup finals is determined by the result of 1 match.
Outcome：
Australia defeated Peru and Costa Rica beat New Zealand to qualify for the finals.
13/06/2022.
Al Rayyan, Qatar
Ahmad bin Ali Stadium
Attendance: 43,510
Australia 0–0 (PK: 5–4) Peru
Goal:
N/A
14/06/2022.
Al Rayyan, Qatar
Ahmad bin Ali Stadium
Attendance: 10,803
Costa Rica 1–0 New Zealand
Goal:
3′ (Costa Rica) Joel Campbell
All 32 teams qualified for the World Cup 2022 finals
Author: Takuya Nagata. Amazon Profile
Follow @nagatackleNovel writer, Creator. Travelled to Brazil and trained football at CFZ do Rio (Centro de Futebol Zico Sociedade Esportiva) in Rio de Janeiro. Played soccer for the Urawa Reds (Urawa Red Diamonds), one of the biggest football clubs in Japan, and toured Europe. Retired at a young age and voyaged alone to England and graduated from UCA, the UK’s university. Established careers as a journalist, football coach, consultant, etc. across Europe such as Spain. Knowledgeable in creative and technology fields as well. Launched “MINIЯISM” (minirism), the art movement that contributes to the development of societies and the knowledge hub “The Minimalist.” The founder of “Propulsive Football” (PROBALL), the world’s first-ever competitive mixed football, facilitating diversity and spirit for equal participation in society. Also writing for “Football Game Sphere.”
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