Image by Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS
The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is 8 months away and the official draw is here.
The 28 teams who have already or will qualify will play in Qatar on November 21. Countries such as the USA, Mexico, and Canada have recently qualified. There are only 3 games to determine the final 3 teams heading to Qatar.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will face Australia on June 6 to head to a playoff final. The winner will face the fifth-place team in South American qualifying, Peru. That match will occur in Doha, Qatar on June 13 or 14.
In June, Scotland and Ukraine are set to meet in Glasgow, with the winner facing Wales in Cardiff later that month in a playoff final.
Finally, New Zealand must win one last match. They will face Costa Rica in Doha on June 13 or 14 if they are to reach Qatar.
How The Draw Works
Photo creds: FIFA.com
The 28 teams have been put into pots based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking following the recent international match window.
As hosts, Qatar is on top of Pot 1. Pot 1 consists of the top 7 ranked nations in the world. Pot 2 contains nations ranked 8-15 and so on. In Pot 4, there are placeholders representing the two winners of the remaining intercontinental play-offs and the UEFA play-off winner.
A team will be selected from the pots to be in one of 8 groups labeled A through H. Qatar will automatically be placed into Group A as hosts. The next team to be selected, Brazil, with be placed into one of the other groups. Each pot has to be emptied before moving on to the next one.
Teams from the same confederation will be kept apart in each of the eight groups with the exception of UEFA, which is represented by 13 teams. Five out of the eight groups will therefore have two European teams.
The Official Draw
The official draw has lined up such:
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H |
| Qatar | England | Argentina | France | Spain | Belgium | Brazil | Portugal |
| Ecuador | Iran | Saudi Arabia | IC Winner #1 | IC Winner #2 | Canada | Serbia | Ghana |
| Senegal | U.S.A | Mexico | Denmark | Germany | Morocco | Switzerland | Uruguay |
| Holland | Euro Winner | Poland | Tunisia | Japan | Croatia | Cameroon | Korea Rep. |
