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
Chile vs Bolivia 09.06.2021
Chile looked impressive as they held their own away at Argentina in the last round of matches as their talismanic striker Alexis Sanchez cancelled Messi’s early penalty as the two teams went level at the break and could not be separated in the 2nd half as the game ended 1-1. A home win here will ... More
Paraguay vs Brazil 09.06.2021
Both teams are unbeaten so far in the world cup qualifying campaign and will be looking to maintain this record. For Paraguay, 4 draws and 1 win have left them in 4th place while Brazil’s 5 wins in 5 games puts them top of the standings. This is likely to be a tough game between ... More
Colombia vs Argentina 09.06.2021
After a slow start to this campaign, Colombia came all firing on all cylinders to pick up three crucial points with a comprehensive 3-0 win at Peru last time out. This has put them back in contention for the automatic top 4 slots as they are in a statistical dead-heat with Paraguay and Uruguay on ... More
Venezuela vs Uruguay 09.06.2021
Venezuela have lost 4 of their 5 opening world cup qualifying matches. This leaves them second-last in the group and at risk of saying goodbye to their world cup qualifying hopes. This game is now a must-win for them. However, Uruguay are not an easy opponent, even though they will not be very happy with ... More
Ecuador vs Peru 08.06.2021
The 2-0 loss to Brazil in their last game ended a 4-game winning streak for Ecuador. Nevertheless, this good run has left them 3rd place in the South American world cup qualifiers standings. A home match against bottom-placed Peru offers a great chance to bounce back to winning ways and consolidate their position further. Peru ... More
Iran vs Bahrain 07.06.2021
As the race for the 2022 World Cup intensifies in the Asia Zone, Iran and Bahrain will battle each other on Monday as they look to garner more points in the qualifying series. Iran are currently third in Group C and would be hoping to earn all 3 points in this tie having lost their ... More
Peru vs Colombia 04.06.2021
Colombia will be looking their World Cup hopes back on track when they take on Peru away from home. The Colombians have been struggling to hit the ground running in the qualification series, but the game against Peru provides an opportunity to get going. Colombia have played four matches, and they have only managed a ... More
Brazil vs Ecuador 05.06.2021
Brazil will hope to extend their lead on the CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifier Standing when they take on Ecuador in matchday five of the qualifying series. Tite’s men are unbeaten in their last five games in all competitions. They will hope to continue that fine form as the race for Qatar 2022 gathers momentum. Ecuador ... More
Argentina vs Chile 04.06.2021
Argentina are doing well so far in the World Cup qualifiers for South America with 3 wins and 1 draw in their first 4 matches. This puts them second on the table behind Brazil who have a perfect record from the first 4 games. A win against Chile will further cement Argentina’s occupation of a ... More
Uruguay vs Paraguay 04.06.2021
Uruguay have had a haphazard start to the tournament with a couple of wins and as many losses in their opening four matches. They are currently in 5th position on the log but are tied on points with the visitors. Their last match was a 2-0 home loss to Brazil and they will look to ... 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.