The countdown to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has begun. This year’s edition will be the first tournament hosted in the Middle East and the first to be held at the end of the calendar year, in November and December.
Eight stadiums will host the event across five cities in Qatar: Lusall, Al Khor, Al Rayyan, Al Wakrah and Doha.
The World Cup Draw was conducted on April 1 and allowed organizers to set the complete group stage schedule, including times and dates.
The World Cup knockout stage is predetermined, with slots already assigned to the top two teams that will qualify from each group.
Two initial slots were also reserved in Group D and Group E for the winner of the two intercontinental playoffs. Australia claimed the first ticket with a victory on penalties over Peru. Costa Rica beat New Zealand by a 1-0 scoreline in the other intercontinental playoff to claim the 32nd and final slot at Qatar 2022.
MORE WORLD CUP 2022:
Full draw results | TV schedule | Latest news
The 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar will feature 32 teams before the field expands to 48 teams for the 2026 World Cup. The FIFA men’s World Cup has featured 32 teams for the last six editions, since France 1998.
Joining host nation Qatar at the tournament will be 31 other countries that have earned a ticket through regional qualifying matches. It was predetermined how many nations qualified from each region:
The four playoff qualifiers in the list above participated in two intercontinental playoff matches played in June 2022, featuring one nation from each of four different regions. Those matchups determined the final two qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup: Asia vs. South America, and North America vs. Oceania.
The final European World Cup berth was also determined in June. Wales beat Ukraine 1-0 in a single-elimination playoff final on June 5. (Wales and Ukraine defeated Austria and Scotland, respectively, to reach the final.) The final European qualifying spot was pushed to the June window after Ukraine requested the postponement from the original March date due to the Russian invasion.
WORLD CUP DRAW BREAKDOWNS:
Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D
Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H
The 2022 FIFA World Cup will kick off on a Sunday — a day earlier than originally scheduled — with hosts Qatar facing Ecuador in the opening Group A match at the Al Bayt Stadium.
The World Cup final will also be held on a Sunday, as per tradition. The trophy will be hoisted by the winner on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022.
All 32 teams have officially qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, including the host nation. The final two spots were filled by the intercontinental playoff winners on June 13 and June 14.
In addition to host nation Qatar, there have been 13 nations from Europe to qualify for the tournament, four from South America, four from Asia, five from Africa, four from North America, and Australia, which is a member of the Asian confederation.
The table below features the full 32-team field for the 2022 World Cup, including the date each nation clinched a berth and how they did it.
These were the results of the group-stage draw, conducted in Doha, Qatar on April 1.
On March 31 FIFA released their updated FIFA World Rankings, which were used to sort the teams into separate pots ahead of the draw held on April 1. Each 2022 World Cup group consists of one team from each of the four pots below.
The top eight teams in the World Rankings (as of March 31) went into Pot 1, the next best eight teams into Pot 2 and so on. Pot 4 also contained the three placeholders for the spots yet to be claimed. This process helped ensure there is competitive balance across the groups.
(FIFA World Ranking on March 31, 2022 added in parentheses below. *Qatar was included in Pot 1 as the host nation, which is a FIFA tradition at World Cup events.)