Another FIFA World Cup for men is just around the corner. For the first time, the tournament will be held in Qatar by November and December 2022, making it the first to be staged in the Middle East.
On April 1, the World Cup draw took place, and now we have the whole group stage schedule. The bracket for the semifinals was predetermined, and the positions were prepared to be taken by the two teams from each group that qualified.
How many teams are playing in the World Cup?
Al Rayyan, Al Khor, Al Wakrah, Lusall, and Doha will host this massive sporting event in eight stadiums. In the meantime, the June schedule had three blank slots for the three vacancies still to be filled.
At the 2026 men’s World Cup, the field will grow to 48 teams from the current 32 teams. Since France 1998, the FIFA men’s World Cup has had 32 teams.
Qatar will be joined by 31 other nations that have qualified for the competition by winning regional tournaments.
A total of six countries from Africa, Asia, Europe, North/Central America and the Caribbean, and Oceania and South America are participating in this year’s Confederation of African Football (CAF) World Cup finals.
Asian teams in the World Cup
The Asian Football Confederation has already secured five places for the World Cup 2022, which will be held in Qatar.
After 3 whole rounds of AFC qualifying, hosts Qatar were joined by Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Iran,
Whoever secures an inter-confederation knockout match might make history by sending six teams to the AFC World Cup for the first time.
After quitting the Oceania Football Confederation in 2006 to join the AFC, the United Arab Emirates and Australia will meet on June 7 for an Asian confederation playoff. The victor of the game will face Peru in a rematch the following week for a spot in Qatar 2022.
Interesting facts about these Asian nations
Five Asian nations competed in the World Cup for the first time in Russia in 2018. As a group, they comprised the following countries: the aforementioned
Every one of the preceding five World Cups included four Asian countries, including that of the 2002 World Cup, which saw South Korea And Japan qualify as co-hosts along with their respective national teams. Before 1998, Asia was represented by no more than 2 teams at a World Cup. In the meanwhile, Europe will contribute 13 of the 32 clubs in Qatar 2022.
South America will be represented by 4 or 5 teams, according to whether Peru qualifies. The OFC will only be recognized in Qatar if New Zealand beats Costa Rica in a playoff, and North America will send at least three.
How the World Cup qualifiers work
The vòng loại world cup 2022 will take off on June 6, 2019, when the Asian confederation’s minor nations begin their first round of games. Mongolia trounced Brunei Darussalam 2-0, with Norjmoogiin Tsedenbal scoring the opening goal.
By the end of March, all of the regular qualifying paths had been finished, and the finals draw took place on April 1. In June, the intercontinental playoffs and the postponed UEFA route will determine the final three spots.
All 10 nations will play each other both at home and away in the qualification tournaments. Top-four finishers advance directly to the championship round. The fifth-place team will face the victors of the AFC playoff, Australia or the United Arab Emirates, on June 13 in an intercontinental playoff.
The first four qualifying rounds, which were scheduled to take place in March and September of 2020, were postponed until October of that year. Due to the pandemic, European players were unable to go to South America for the two scheduled rounds of games in March 2021.
Following an international break last January 2022, qualification began with two games well before Copa America in early June 2021.
