2022 World Cup Complete Draw: Teams, Stream, Time, Format, Pots and More
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| 2022 World Cup Draw |
The Complete Draw for World Cup 2022
Group A: Qatar (hosts), Netherlands, Senegal, Ecuador
Group B: England, United States, Iran, Wales/Scotland/Ukraine
Group C: Argentina, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia
Group D: France, Denmark, Tunisia, Peru/Australia/UAE
Group E: Spain, Germany, Japan, Costa Rica/New Zealand
Group F: Belgium, Croatia, Morocco, Canada
Group G: Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia, Cameroon
Group H: Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Ghana
After years of qualifying, now it is time to focus on who will play who in Qatar in November and December 2022. With the 2022 World Cup to be played from November 21 to December 18 in 2022 in eight stadiums in five cities across Qatar, this is going to be a truly unique tournament as FIFA take their showpiece event to the Middle East for the first time in history.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2022 World Cup draw, from how to watch it live to the countries in every pot. Which group will be the toughest? Which giant will ease through? Where will the upsets be?
2022 World Cup Draw: Watch live, schedule, start time dates
When: Friday, April 1, 2022
Location: Doha, Qatar
Start time: Scheduled to start at 12pm ET
TV channel: Telemundo, Universo, Peacock
Live updates, analysis: ProSoccerTalk live show on YouTube + Here on NBCSports.com
When is the draw for the Qatar 2022 World Cup?
The draw for the group stage of the 2022 World Cup will take place on Friday, April 1 at 12:00 pm ET, at a gala event to be held at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center in Doha, Qatar. The draw will determine the composition of the eight groups of four teams that will make up the first phase of the World Cup in Qatar.
Once the 32 teams have been divided into the eight groups, it will be time to look ahead to the knockout rounds, as the schedule of matches has already been determined. The winner of group A will face the second of group B, the second of group A the winner of group B, and so on with the rest of the groups C-D, E-F and G-H.
World Cup 2022 Draw: Possible Groups of Death
2022 World Cup Draw: Who’s Involved
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| World Cup 2022 Qualified Teams |
The 32 nations involved in the 2022 World Cup, 29 of which are currently known, will be drawn into eight groups of four. Two of the remaining three spots will be filled by the winners of the Intercontinental Play-offs on 13 or 14 June, with the final berth determined by Path A of the European qualifying play-offs, in which Wales will face off against either Scotland or Ukraine in the final.
The draw will be attended by 2,000 guests and will be led by Carli Lloyd, Jermaine Jenas and Samantha Johnson, assisted by the likes of Cafu (Brazil), Lothar Matthaus (Germany), Adel Ahmed MalAllah (Qatar), Ali Daei (IR Iran), Bora Milutinovic (Serbia/Mexico), Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria), Rabah Madjer (Algeria) and Tim Cahill (Australia).
CAF: Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Cameroon
AFC: Qatar (hosts), Iran, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia
CONCACAF: Canada, Mexico, USA
CONMEBEOL: Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay
OFC: None
UEFA: Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal
Intercontinental playoffs
June 7 – AFC fourth round playoff
UAE vs Australia
June 13/14
Costa Rica vs New Zealand
UAE/Australia vs Peru
 2022 World Cup: Qualified Teams, Pots, Format and Schedule 2022 World Cup in Qatar: 32 teams will maintain a classic format of eight groups of four teams that will play three round-robin, one-legged matches. |
Which teams have qualified for the 2022 World Cup?
EUROPE
Ten countries qualified last year by winning their group in the first stage of UEFA qualifying: Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Another 12 nations qualified for three mini-knockout tournaments to claim the remaining spots, with Poland defeating Sweden and Portugal surviving against North Macedonia on Wednesday morning.
The final spot will be won by either Wales, Scotland or Ukraine.
The Welsh defeated Austria last week but given the invasion by Russia, Ukraine’s match with Scotland has been rescheduled until the June international break. The winner of that match will then face Wales.
Of note, Euro winners Italy failed to qualify after losing 1-0 to North Macedonia, while Russia was excluded due to its invasion of Ukraine and not permitted to face Poland last week.
ASIA
As Australian fans are frustratingly aware, the Socceroos failed to progress automatically from their six-team group in the third stage of AFC qualifying.
South Korea and Iran dominated in Group A, with the UAE claiming third place on the final matchday via its 1-0 win over the Koreans.
In Group B, Australia’s two losses to Japan combined with costly late equalisers conceded against China and Oman saw them relegated to third, behind the Japanese and Saudi Arabia.
Australia will face the UAE in a one-game playoff on June 7 (potentially June 8 AEST), for the right to face South American fifth-placers Peru a week later for a spot in Qatar.
Graham Arnold’s side should be warm favourites, on paper, to get past UAE who have a world ranking in the low 70s, but Peru (ranked in the low 20s, roughly where Japan sits) poses a much larger threat.
SOUTH AMERICA
As expected Brazil and Argentina qualified easily out of the trademark 10-team CONMEBOL double round-robin, with Ecuador (back after missing 2018) and Uruguay locking up their spots last week.
Peru’s 2-0 win over Paraguay saw it hold off Colombia, who also won on the last match-day, for fifth place and the inter-confederation playoffs spot, earning a single match against either Australia or the UAE in Qatar this June.
AFRICA
The ever-tricky CAF qualifiers concluded on Wednesday morning, with five nations clutching out wins in their two-legged ties.
In a rematch of the Africa Cup of Nations final, Senegal defeated Egypt on penalties - with thanks to some laser pointers - while Cameroon took down Algeria in extra time.
Ghana advanced past Nigeria on away goals, Morocco swept past DR Congo and Tunisia held off a Mali side trying to qualify for its first World Cup.
The results mean only three of 2018’s African qualifiers (Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria and Morocco) were able to repeat. Cameron and Ghana are back for the first time since 2014.
NORTH AMERICA
Canada had already qualified for its first World Cup since 1986, with the USA and Mexico joining them on the final day of CONCACAF qualifying on Thursday (AEDT).
After defeating the USA by two goals but not the required six, Costa Rica claimed a spot in the inter-confederation playoffs, where it will face Oceania representative New Zealand.
OCEANIA
New Zealand eased past the Solomon Islands in a one-match decider in Qatar to again become the OFC representative in the inter-confederation playoffs.
The Kiwis will face the fourth-place team from CONCACAF, Costa Rica.
No OFC team has qualified since New Zealand in 2010, with the All Whites losing to Mexico in the 2014 inter-confederation playoffs, then Peru in 2018.
No nation other than New Zealand has represented the OFC in the playoffs since Australia left to join Asia.
Expected pots for World Cup draw (TBC by FIFA on March, 31, 2022)
Pot 1: Qatar, Belgium, Brazil, France, Argentina, England, Spain, Portugal
Pot 2: Mexico, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland, USA, Croatia
Pot 3: Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea, Tunisia
Pot 4: Cameroon, Canada, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana + 2 intercontinental playoff winners, winner of Wales vs Scotland/Ukraine
Portugal’s win over North Macedonia saw it lock up the final spot in Pot 1, leaving Germany and the Netherlands as arguably the most dangerous sides in Pot 2 who chould end up creating groups of death.
Canada failed to move up from Pot 4 into Pot 3 after it lost its final CONCACAF qualifying match to Panama.
Each group will include one team from each pot.
How Will the World Cup Draw Work?
The 28 already qualified teams will be allocated according to sporting principles to pots 1 to 4 based on the Men’s World Ranking released on 31 March, 2022 following the conclusion of the international match window.
As hosts, Qatar will take position A1 from Pot 1, where they will be joined by the seven highest-ranked qualified teams from the Men’s World Ranking.
The countries occupying positions 8-15 in the ranking of the qualified teams will be allocated to Pot 2, while the 16th-23rd best-ranked qualifiers will be placed in Pot 3.
Finally, Pot 4 will include the qualified teams in positions 24 to 28, plus three placeholders representing the two winners of the intercontinental play-offs and the remaining UEFA play-off winner.
The intercontinental play-offs will be contested on 13-14 June in Qatar, with the AFC representative facing the CONMEBOL representative and the Concacaf representative taking on the OFC representative.
The final team to qualify through the UEFA play-offs will also be determined in the May-June international window due to Ukraine’s playoff game being delayed and Russia being banned from the World Cup due to their invasion of Ukraine.
The draw will start with Pot 1 and end with Pot 4. Each pot will be completely emptied before moving on to the subsequent one.
As per the standard draw procedure, a ball from a team pot will be drawn, followed by a ball from one of the group pots, thus determining the position in which the team will play.
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.
2022 World Cup Schedule
The World Cup will begin on Monday November 21, with Qatar to host the opening match of Group A at 9PM AEDT.
During the group stage matches will begin at 9pm, midnight, 3am and 6am AEDT.
The final simultaneous kick-off group stage games and knockout stage games will begin at 2am and 6am AEDT, with the final at 2am.
Group stage: November 21 to December 3
Round of 16: December 4 to 7
Quarter-finals: December 10 and 11
Semi-finals: December 14 and 15
Third-place playoff: December 18
World Cup final: December 19
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