The road to the FIFA World Cup is long and challenging for any team, but especially so for those smaller nations who struggle to get noticed. However, after the excitement of qualifying comes the arduous task of attempting to qualify again.
The road to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar begins now…and ends in an as-yet-unfinished stadium in Honduras in November 2021. There are just over 200 days until the first match of the final round of qualifiers, which means that there’s not much time left for you to catch up on all things World Cup qualifying! Let us take you through everything you need to know about the upcoming qualifiers…
Who’s Playing In The FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers?
As we saw when we looked back at the road to the FIFA World Cup, smaller nations usually compete in a group stage of qualifying, while the larger footballing nations usually begin their journey with a two-leg knockout or group stage.
Therefore, depending on their performance in the previous round, the teams who will be battling it out for the chance to play at the biggest sporting event in the world will be as follows: Smaller nations; Larger nations (UEFA Europe and OFC Oceania).
For a good example, let’s turn to fifa world cup club 2022 and fifa qualifiers 2022 in Africa. Here, the group stage will see 48 teams battle over 6 matchdays from September 2019 to November 2019. The top 2 teams from each group will then advance to the fifa world cup qualification final round, while the 3rd-placed team heads to a play-off against a team from Asia (more on that in a moment).
FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifying Dates And Schedule
Now that we know who’s playing, let’s look at the dates of the biggest footballing event on the planet. These dates are subject to change, but they are as we know them at the time of writing.
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September 2019
– Group Stage November 2019 – Final Round of fifa world cup qualification
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November 2020
– fifa world cup club 2022 Draw
As the dates for the group stage are known, the fifa world cup qualification final round will likely begin in October or November. We’ll have a better idea of the exact dates closer to the time.
What Happens If Your Team Makes It To The Final Round Of Qualifiers?
If your team makes it to the fifa world cup qualification final round, they will be competing for a spot in Group A or B at the 2022 fifa world cup club. This means that assuming the same rules as the 2018 fifa world cup club are applied, the top 2 teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage, with the winners of each group facing off in the final.
The bottom 2 teams from each group will be eliminated, while the 3rd-placed teams will head to a play-off against sides from the smaller fifa online and fifa qualifiers 2022 groups. For example, if the USA qualifies for fifa online Group A or B and is 3rd in the fifa qualifiers 2022 group, they would have to face the 3rd-placed team from either Asia or Oceania for a spot at the World Cup.
How do you advance to the final round of FIFA World Cup Qualifying?
Some teams will enter the final round of fifa online qualifying directly from the group stage, while others will enter after a play-off against a team from a smaller qualifying group. However, there are a few different ways that you can advance to the final round of FIFA World Cup qualifying.
The top 10 teams in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking on July 16, 2021, will directly qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. If one of the top 10 teams drops out of the top 30 by the same date, they will be replaced by the next team in the rankings. If two teams drop out of the top 30, they will be replaced by the 12th and 13th-ranked teams.
The other teams will need to qualify for the final round of FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying. This can happen in one of three ways.
The 6 group winners from the first round of FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying.
The 6 group runners-up from the first round of FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying.
The 12 third-placed teams from the first round of FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying (3 from each group).
Which Teams Are Most Likely To Make It To The 2022 Final Round?
As with all forms of footballing prediction, it’s hard to say for certain who will make it to the final stage of qualifying. However, there are a few teams that we can probably pencil in. FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying has yet to begin, so it’s not as though we can look at the previous stages to make educated guesses as to who will advance.
However, we can make our best guesses based on previous FIFA World Cups and experience with these teams.Here are the teams that we expect to reach the final round of FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying.
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Australia
: The Socceroos are currently ranked 22nd in the world and are extremely likely to advance past the first round.
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Brazil
: The Samba Boys are ranked 2nd in the world and are the current favorites to win the tournament, so we expect them to go through.
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England
: The Three Lions are ranked 6th in the world and are a strong contender to go through.
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France
: Les Bleus are currently ranked 3rd in the world, and we expect them to go through as well.
Bottom Line
Now that we’ve explored everything you need to know about the road to the FIFA World Cup 2022, there’s just one thing left to do: get ready! The road to the 2022 FIFA World Cup begins now, so get ready for some long nights in front of the TV and follow your team as they attempt to qualify for their first-ever FIFA World Cup. Good luck!