Now that we have reached 2022, it’s finally a World Cup year. The international competition is being held in Qatar, the first Middle Eastern country to ever host the event. This will be the first World Cup that will be held in November and December, not the summer, due to Qatar’s intense summer heat.
There are 32 spots in the 2022 World Cup, with 13 of them being filled. As of now, outside of the automatic qualification of Qatar for hosting the tournament, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland have qualified for the games.
There are 19 remaining spots for qualification in the World Cup. Of the 19 remaining, the spots will be dispersed around the world. Africa has five spots, Asia has four and a half spots, North America has three and a half spots, Europe has three spots, South America has two and a half spots, and Oceania has half a spot. The continents that have half spots are put into an Intercontinental Playoff.
The final two spots will be determined by the Intercontinental Playoff. The matchups will take place on June 13 and 14. The first matchup is between fifth place in Asia’s qualifying and fifth place in South America’s qualifying. The second matchup is between fourth place in Concacaf and Oceania’s top-seeded qualifier. The winners will earn a spot in the World Cup.
Europe’s 10 qualifications were due to those teams winning their group. The final three spots will be filled by the group runners-up and the two highest seeded third place teams. Path A will send either Scotland, Ukraine, Wales or Austria to the World Cup. Path B will send Russia, Poland, Sweden or Czech Republic to the World Cup. Path C is sending one of Italy, North Macedonia, Portugal or Turkey to the tournament.
As of now, Ecuador and Colombia would hold the two spots for South America, with Peru earning a qualification for the intercontinental playoffs. Ecuador has 23 points, with both Colombia and Peru both have 17 points. Unlike Europe, South America’s qualification is based purely on points.
North America works on a points scale like South America does, with a set number of the highest scoring teams qualifying for the World Cup. Three countries qualify for North America based off points. Canada, the United States and Mexico would qualify if it ended today, with Panama going to the intercontinental playoff.
In African qualifying, five of the ten remaining countries will qualify. It will work on two game series, with the highest seed playing the lowest seed. Five of Algeria, Cameroon, DR Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia will qualify for the World Cup based on the results of their matchup.
Oceania has yet to play any of their qualifiers, but it will either be Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu or Papua New Guinea that is sent to the playoff.
