The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar from 21 November to 18 December 2022. This will be the 22nd edition of the men’s football tournament that draws qualified national teams of FIFA member countries from across the world. The tournament is held every 4 years and is hosted by a country selected by FIFA. A total of 32 nations are set to compete to be crowned the FIFA World Cup Champions. Qatar becomes the first Arab country and the first Muslim-majority nation to host the FIFA World Cup.
Read our World Cup qualifiers predictions and become a winner!
World Cup Qualifiers predictions
Germany vs North Macedonia 31.03.2021
Germany and North Macedonia are meeting up for the first time. In their last matches, we saw Germany winning 0-1 and North Macedonia winning 5-0. This is going to an interesting and tight match in equal measure. We would expect more goals scored in this match. Germany on the other hand has only conceded one ... More
Spain vs Kosovo 31.03.2021
Spain kicked off these World Cup qualifiers in fits and starts. They opened with a 1-1 draw at home to Greece despite enjoying massive possession as they are wont to do. They then travelled to Georgia at the weekend and needed a last-minute goal to pick all three points in a 2-1 comeback win. Kosovo ... More
Bosnia & Herzegovina vs France 31.03.2021
France will travel to Sarajevo to take on Bosnia & Herzegovina for their third game in the European Zone of the 2022 World Cup qualification. The visitors are sitting on top of the group with four points after earning a draw and a win against Ukraine and Kazakhstan in their first two games respectively. Both ... More
England vs Poland 31.03.2021
The Three Lions kicked off their World Cup qualification campaign in emphatic fashion winning both of their opening games against minnows San Marino and Albania, pumping in goals without while keeping clean sheets in both matches. Despite the relatively weak opposition, Gareth Southgate has not taken anything for granted, naming and fielding full-strength teams for ... More
Belgium vs Belarus 30.03.2021
Belgium had to come back from behind to earn a draw against group leaders Czech Republic. In contrast, Belarus tore Estonia 4-2 in their opening group game. Belgium are now unbeaten in 6 games with the draw in the last game ending a run of 5 wins. Belarus have lost 2 of their last 5 ... More
Romania vs Germany 28.03.2021
Romania will host Germany has both countries battle in the first game of their Qatar 2022 World Cup qualification series. The Germans will fancy themselves, but recent results have not been encouraging. Last time out, they were annihilated by an average Spanish team 6-0. Germany will want to bury the ghost of that shameful performance ... More
Bulgaria vs Italy 28.03.2021
Italy have been in terrific form. They are unbeaten in their last 23 matches across all competitions. Coach Mancini has got Italian fans reminiscing the good old glory days. They have looked very much like their old selves especially in their recent matches, winning 6 of their last 8 while keeping clean sheets in all ... More
Albania vs England 28.03.2021
The Three Lions will kick off their World Cup qualification campaign against Albania in Tirana. England coach, Gareth Southgate has called up the crème-de-la crème of English talents for this window of the World Cup qualification. Although a few players will be missing through injuries, there is still enough in his Arsenal to get their ... More
Czech Republic vs Belgium 27.03.2021
Belgium began their 2022 World Cup qualification campaign by beating Wales 3-1 in their first match of the group. Belgium is one of the best teams in the world and have won 8 of their last 10 matches. They will be looking to lead the group and increase their chances to qualify for the World ... More
Serbia vs Portugal 27.03.2021
Serbia kicked off their World Cup qualifying campaign with an impressive 3-2 win over Ireland. This saw them go top of Group A on day one. Their opponents Portugal also won their opening game 1-0 and will be looking to stamp their authority in this group with another win. Whenever these two teams meet, they ... More
Qualification for Qatar 2022
Qualification for Qatar 2022 is based on the 6 continental football federations under FIFA. Each continental federation is given an agreed number of slots out of the total number of 32. Member nations compete for these slots for the right to participate in the main event. The host nation qualifies automatically. The continental regions are:
- Africa – 5 teams
- Europe – 13 teams
- Asia – 5
- North, Central America, and the Caribbean – 3
- South America – 5 teams
- Oceania – 1 team
Each continental federation has its own format for determining which members qualify to represent the continent at the world cup. This is commonly done through group matches, league format, or knockout matches.
Africa qualification format
Africa is allocated 5 slots out of the final 32 teams to participate in Qatar 2022. There are a total of 54 national teams that are members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) competing for the five places available. All the 54 member associations of CAF entered qualification. The seeding was done based on FIFA rankings.
The qualification format used by CAF for Qatar 2022 is divided into three rounds:
First Round
28 teams ranked number 27 to 54 are paired and play each other over two legs home-and-away. The 14 winners advance to the Second Round. The national teams ranked 1 to 26 at the time of the draw also qualify for the second round automatically. The first round was held on 4-7 September 2019 (first leg) and 8-10 September 2019 (second leg).
Second Round
There are now 40 teams and they are divided into 10 groups of 4 teams each. Seeding is done according to FIFFA rankings at the time of the draw. The teams in each group play each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The 10 group winners proceed to the third and final round.
The Second Round consists of 6 matchdays spread through 2021. The first matchday will be held from 31st May to 15th June. The final matchday is scheduled for 4-12th October 2021.
Third Round
The third round is played by the 10 group winners from Round Two. The teams are seeded and paired according to the latest FIFA ranking. They play each other home-and-away over two legs. The five winners qualify for Qatar 2022. The third round matches will be played on 8-16th November 2021.
Europe qualification format
Europe takes the lion’s share of the 32 world cup slots available to FIFA members. The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) will produce 13 teams for the tournament. All 55 member nations of UEFA will enter qualification to compete for the available slots. The European qualification path follows UEFA’s usual format of Group Stage and Playoff Stage. The results of the 2020/2021 UEFA Nations League will be factored into the qualification process.
Group Stage
There will be 10 groups comprising 5 or 6 teams each. The top 4 teams from the UEFA Nations League finals will be placed in smaller groups. The 10 group winners qualify directly for the World Cup. The 10 group runners-up proceed to the playoff stage.
Playoff Stage
The playoff stage is contested by a total of 12 teams. These include the 10 runners-up from the group stage plus 2 highest ranked UEFA Nations League group winners who fail to finish in the top 2 of the world cup qualifying group stage. The 12 teams at this stage are divided into 3 groups. In each group, the 4 teams are paired and they play each other in a one-legged knockout format of semi-finals and finals. The 3 winners from each group qualify for the world cup. They join the winners from the group stage to make it 13 European teams at the world cup.
Our World Cup qualifiers preditions
Africa
The second round of the qualification format consisting of group stage matches has brought together some interesting matchups. Only 1 team can proceed from each group so some big names are likely to miss out. Continental giants Cameroon and Ivory Coast are both in Group D; Egypt battles Angola in Group F, and Ghana will face South Africa in Group G. The other top teams have relatively easy groups that they are expected to win.
Our World Cup qualifiers predictions for Africa
From the qualification path, the most likely teams to qualify for Qatar 2022 from Africa are; Tunisia, Algeria, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Egypt.
Europe
The European format gives a second chance to big teams that fail to top their qualification groups to qualify via the playoff stages. This means that there will be competition for the top 2 slots of each group.
Our World Cup qualifiers predictions for Europe
The 10 teams that are likely to top their respective groups are: Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, England, Germany, and Croatia.