The road to the biggest sporting event on earth is always a long and arduous one for national teams. The qualifying campaign for the FIFA World Cup 2022 almost always stretches over two years and involves home and away games as well as every kind of terrain and climate under the sun.
Sadly, it’s very much a case of the same old story once again this time around in FIFA qualifiers 2022. Argentina has fallen short of qualifying too many times to even count, while smaller nations like Fiji, New Zealand, Panama, and Venezuela will face a mammoth task just to make it out of their respective groups. As they say though — there are no easy games at this level.
Who’s Qualified So Far?
There has been a fair amount of action so far in the FIFA qualifiers 2022, with the majority of the teams from Europe and South America have already booked their place at the finals in Qatar. The top two European nations from the 2018 edition, France and Croatia, have also already secured their places at the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
Europe’s third-placed nation will be decided at the UEFA Nations League Final Four, which will feature the four countries that finished third in their groups at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The top two teams will progress to the semi-finals and qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2022 at the expense of the fourth-placed team.
The three remaining places in the tournament will be filled by the winners of the Concacaf, AFC, and OFC qualifiers, while the fourth-placed nation from the Concacaf will play against the third-placed team from the AFC for a chance to qualify.
2022 FIFA World Cup Groups
The FIFA World Cup 2022 groups are set to be decided via a draw. While it is too early to predict how any teams are going to perform in the group stages, there are a few obvious group-of-death-type situations that will likely come to light.
2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Schedule
FIFA has yet to set a date for the FIFA qualifiers 2022, but the governing body has released an estimated schedule for the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying groups. FIFA, like any sports organization, is notorious for changing its mind.
However, the FIFA qualifiers 2022 will likely begin in October 2021, with the group winners progressing to the finals. The two-year qualifying period will likely end in March 2022 when the group winners will be confirmed.
Which Teams Have The Best Chance Of Qualifying?
While predicting the FIFA qualifiers 2022 is a dangerous game at the best of times, the top teams in each group at the end of the qualifying campaign will likely be the ones who progress to Qatar. Despite being drawn alongside the African champions, Ghana, Group B looks to be the weakest of the groups, with both Cameroon and Nigeria unlikely to be able to match the Black Stars’ quality.
Meanwhile, Group C is perhaps the most open of them all, with hosts Qatar expected to progress alongside Egypt, while the remaining two spots will be contested by the likes of Bahrain, Comoros, and Saudi Arabia. With Group D being made up of the reigning Asian champions, Japan, as well as the reigning African and European champions, Ivory Coast and Croatia, respectively, it’s difficult to predict who will make it out of the group.