Teams That Qualified for World Cup 2022 Are Among the Best

The FIFA World Cup is the single greatest sporting event in the world. In 2022 the tournament will go to Qatar, a small but rich country in the Persian Gulf. This will also be the first team that a world cup takes place in a Middle-Eastern country. Out of a total of 210 teams, only 32 will qualify for the pinnacle tournament in the desert country. As the host, Qatar is the first team to qualify, so the process is only applicable for the other teams. The qualification process started on 6 June 2019 and will end in June 2022. Despite the long period, only 13 teams have made it into the finals. In this article, we’ll briefly explain the confederations, Qatar, and the teams that qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2022.

The FIFA Executive Committee decided back in 2015 that the same allocation used in 2006, 2010, and 2014 will remain the same for 2018 and 2022. AFC (Asia) has 4 or 5 slots available, CAF (Africa) has 5, CONCACAF (North, Central America, and the Caribbean) has 3 or 4, CONMEBOL (South America) has 4 or 5, OFC (Oceania) 0 or 1, UEFA (Europe) has 13 and 1 slot is allocated to the hosts. This will make up for the 31+1 slots in the finals. Qatar never participated in the finals before so their first appearance will be special. They already qualified in 2010, when the nation was announced as hosts. This is also the first time that a country with no finals experience hosts the tournament since 1934. Saint Lucia, North Korea, American Samoa, and Samoa are the only countries that withdrew from the tournament.

The AFC is a High-Scoring Confederation But Only Qatar Has Made It to The Finals So Far

Out of the four qualifying rounds, the first two AFC rounds served as qualification for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. Qatar only participated in these two rounds. A total of 46 teams make up the AFC, of which 4 or 5 can qualify. So far, 33 teams have been eliminated and 12 teams are still in contention. This makes Qatar the sole AFC team to qualify for the 2022 World Cup so far. The process started on 6 June 2019 and will end on 13-14 June 2022. The tournament is currently in the third round and the next match (Matchday 7) will take place on 27 January. With the popularity of the event, no doubt online sportsbooks in the UK will heavily cover these matches. 

The first two teams from the two groups in the third round will qualify for the World Cup. Currently, these are Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Japan. The two third-placed teams advance to the fourth round for a single match to determine who goes to the inter-confederation play-offs. As of right now, these teams are the United Arab Emirates and Australia. The inter-confederation play-off will also be a single match between the AFC Fourth Round winner and the CONMEBOL 5th place team. It’s scheduled for either 13 or 14 June and will take place in Qatar. Do you think the rankings will stay the same? If not, which team do you predict to make it to the 2022 World Cup finals?

The Third Round Winners From CAF Will Qualify For World Cup 2022

There are 5 available finals slots for CAF teams this year. 54 teams entered the competition and 44 of these have been eliminated already. Qualifying started on 4 September 2019 and will end on 29 March 2022. Unlike the previous confederation, CAF only has third qualifying rounds. Luckily for fans, we’re in the third and final round. The ten group winners of the second round will play home-and-away games over two legs. The five winners will take the 5 available finals spots. Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, and DR Congo make up the 10 group winners.

Actually, no teams have qualified yet. The draw for the third round will be on 22 January 2022 in Cameroon. The two pots are as follows:

Pot 1: Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Nigeria

Pot 2: Egypt, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, DR Congo

The next closest CAF game is on 24 March so the third round will only take five days. What do you think the five final teams will be?

The Competition is Airtight In The CONCACAF

The North- Central American and Caribbean confederation only offers 3 or 4 finals slots. 34 teams started in the tournament but none has qualified so far. Only 8 of those 34 can still do so. The process started on 24 March 2021 and will end on 13-14 June 2022, similar to the AFC. The qualification process for the CONCACAF was changed in July 2020. The three second-round winners will join the top 5 teams in the confederation (Mexico, United States, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Honduras) based on FIFA rankings. These nations play home-and-away round-robin matches in a single group. The top three qualify for the 2022 World Cup and the fourth advances to the inter-confederation play-offs.

The second round winners are El Salvador, Canada, and Panama. The third round began on 2 September 2021 and will end on 30 March 2022. There are a total of 14 matchdays, with Matchday 9 taking place on 27 January 2022. The current top four are Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Panama, in this order. However, the competition is tight as there are only two points between the first and fourth teams. Make sure to keep up with online sportsbook news in the UK to see the future changes. This is still anyone’s game and the rankings could change completely in the next couple of months.

CONMEBOL Features Some of The Biggest Names in Football

Football is a religion in South America. Some of the best past and current players hail from here and the World Cup scene is not uncommon for these teams. 10 teams started in the competition and with 4 final spots available, almost half of them can make it to Qatar. The impressive thing is that no teams have been eliminated from contention yet. The qualifying started on 8 October 2020 and will end on a now-familiar date, 13-14 June 2022. These are the 10 CONMEBOL teams that entered qualification: Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, and Ecuador. Four of these teams are in the top 10 of the 2020 FIFA World Rankings, another reason why South American football is so good. Brazil and Argentina are the only teams from the CONMEBOL that have qualified so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTGG4pOR_oI

Out of the 18 matchdays, only 4 remain. The next game in this confederation will be on 27 January. Matchday 18 is scheduled for 29 March. The standings are where this gets interesting. The fifth-place goes to the inter-confederation play-offs as mentioned in the previous subsections. Interestingly enough, any of the 8 teams can still join Brazil and Argentina. Ecuador is leading the pack with 23 points but the next 6 teams are all between 17 and 13 points. Venezuela sits at the bottom with 7 points but technically they’re not eliminated yet. Make sure to cast an eye on Bet365 Sportsbook near 27 January to see the qualifying chances of these teams. The 2022 World Cup would surely be a bit strange without Suárez and Uruguay.

UEFA Has The Most Teams That Qualified For World Cup 2022

The UEFA is the pinnacle of football. It is the confederation where most of football’s biggest names have played and continue to play. It is also the home of the world’s biggest and most competitive leagues, along with the Champions and Europa Leagues. The Champions League is underway so if you’re interested in it, check out the predictions for the UCL Round of 16 1st predictions. Since it’s the toughest and most popular confederation, more attention is aimed towards the UEFA. For the 2022 World Cup, there are 13 finals slots available for teams from this confederation. 10 of these 13 are already filled out so it will come down to a line. A total of 55 teams started and 33 have been eliminated, leaving 12 teams that can still qualify for World Cup 2022. Qualification for UEFA teams started on 24 March 2021 and will end on 29 March 2022.

Only the second round (play-offs) remains of which the semi-finals will be on 24 March and the finals on 29 March. Due to its popularity, the UEFA is the most covered confederation by media and online sportsbooks in the UK. The currently 10 qualified teams are the group winners Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Croatia, England, and Germany. According to Bet365 Sportsbook, France and Brazil are the two favorites to win the World Cup with 7.00 (14.3%), followed by England’s 8.00 (12.5%). The 10 runners-up along with the 2 best Nations League group winners are still in the competition. These teams are Portugal, Sweden, Italy, Ukraine, Wales, Czech Republic, Scotland, Austria, Turkey, Russia, Poland, and North Macedonia. Only 3 of these 12 nations can make it to the finals in Qatar. The tournament would surely be a bit strange without Italy or Portugal.

Only One Team Can Make It To The Finals From the OFC

The OFC is the smallest confederation in world football as only 9 teams entered the tournament. All of them are still in contention as the qualifying only starts on 13 March 2022. The number of contestants would’ve originally been 11 but American Samoa and Samoa withdrew, as mentioned earlier. The qualification will begin with a match between the two lowest-ranked teams, Tonga (199) and Cook Islands (NR). The winner will join New Zealand, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Fiji, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea on the group stage. The winner of the final stage will advance to the inter-confederation play-off and play against the CONCACAF Third Round 4th place team. The game will be on 13 or 14 June in Qatar and the winning team qualifies for the World Cup 2022 finals. Depending on the outcome, the OFC will have 0 or 1 team in the finals.

Watch the 2022 World Cup live in Qatar

The Bedouins are a hospitable people that respect tradition. Offering real Arabic coffee and sweets to guests is common and a sign of hospitality. Qatari and Arabic cuisine is one of the richest and most flavorful in the world. If anyone plans on visiting the country before, during, or after the World Cup, trying out the food is a must. The cuisine also has aspects of Indian, Iranian, and North African influences. Qatar is a peninsula so naturally, it has a lot of beautiful beaches. The country is a great vacation opportunity not just for football fans but water sports fans too. Beautiful crystal-clear waters and rich marine life grant great opportunities for lovers of waterskiing, rowing boats, scuba diving, kitesurfing, and more. The coral reefs and numerous islands are just the cherries on top.

Qatar offers pleasure to the appreciators of history and architecture too. From the UNESCO site of Al Zubarah and the Museum of Islamic Art, there’s something for everyone. With no doubt, you have heard of the famous Arabian desert trips and safaris. Camel riding, camping under the sky of a thousand stars are both part of these trips. The FIFA World Cup is a long and lively event so if people want to experience other things as well, Qatar is a great place for that. Sports Betting and gambling, in general, are illegal in the country so it’s better to place those bets before making your trip to the Persian Gulf.

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