FIFA WORLD CUP 2022 | FIFA World Cup Teams

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About FIFA World Cup

The 2022 FIFA World Cup (Standard Arabic: كأس العالم 2022, romanized: Kaʾsu al-ʿālami 2022; Gulf Arabic: كاس العالم ٢٠٢٢, romanized: Kāsu al-ʿālami 2022) is scheduled to be the 22nd running of the FIFA World Cup competition, the quadrennial international men's football championship contested by the senior national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Qatar from 21 November to 18 December 2022. This will be the first World Cup ever to be held in the Arab world, and the second World Cup held entirely in Asia after the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan. In addition, the tournament will be the last to involve 32 teams, with an increase to 48 teams scheduled for the 2026 tournament in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Due to Qatar's intense summer heat, this World Cup will be held from late-November to mid-December, making it the first tournament not to be held in May, June, or July; it will be played in a reduced timeframe of around 28 days. The first match played at the tournament will be contested between Senegal and the Netherlands at Al Thumama Stadium, Doha. The final is due to be held on 18 December 2022, which is also Qatar National Day. The reigning World Cup champions are France.

In May 2011, allegations of corruption within the FIFA senior officials raised questions over the legitimacy of the World Cup 2022 being held in Qatar. The accusations of corruption have been made relating to how Qatar won the right to host the event. A FIFA internal investigation and report cleared Qatar of any violation, but chief investigator Michael J. Garcia has since described FIFA's report on his enquiry as containing "numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations." On 27 May 2015, Swiss federal prosecutors opened an investigation into corruption and money laundering related to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids. On 6 August 2018, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter claimed that Qatar had used "black ops", suggesting that the bid committee had cheated to win the hosting rights.

Additionally, Qatar has faced strong criticism due to the treatment of foreign workers involved in preparation for the World Cup, with Amnesty International referring to "forced labour" and poor working conditions, while many migrant workers reported having to pay large "recruitment fees" to obtain employment. An investigation by The Guardian newspaper claimed that many workers are denied food and water, have their identity papers taken away from them, and that they are not paid on time or at all, making some of them in effect slaves. The Guardian has estimated that up to 4,000 workers may die due to lax safety and other causes by the time the competition is held. Between 2015 and 2021, the Qatari government adopted new labour reforms to improve working conditions, including a minimum wage for all workers and the removal of the kafala system. According to Amnesty International, however, living and working conditions of the foreign workers have not improved in the last years.

Teams

AFC (6)

Australia

Iran

Japan

Qatar (hosts)

Saudi Arabia

South Korea

CAF (5)

Cameroon

Ghana

Morocco

Senegal

Tunisia

CONCACAF (4)

Canada

Costa Rica

Mexico

United States

CONMEBOL (4)

Argentina

Brazil

Ecuador

Uruguay

OFC (0)

None qualified

UEFA (13)

Belgium

Croatia

Denmark

England

France

Germany

Netherlands

Poland

Portugal

Serbia

Spain

Switzerland

Wales

Draw

The final draw was held at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center in Doha, Qatar, on 1 April 2022, 19:00 AST, prior to the completion of qualification. The two winners of the inter-confederation play-offs and the winner of the Path A of the UEFA play-offs were not known at the time of the draw.

For the draw, the 32 teams were allocated into four pots based on the FIFA Men's World Rankings of 31 March 2022. Pot one contained the hosts Qatar (who were automatically assigned to position A1) and the best seven teams. Pot two contained the next best eight teams, with the next best eight teams into pot 3. Pot 4 contained the five lowest-ranked teams, along with the placeholders for the two inter-confederation play-off winners and the UEFA Path A play-off winner. Teams from the same confederation could not be drawn into the same group except for UEFA teams, for which there was at least one and no more than two per group. This principle also applied to the placeholder teams, with constraints applying based on the confederation of both potential winners of each play-off tie. The draw started with pot 1 and ended with pot 4, with each team selected then allocated into the first available group alphabetically. The position for the team within the group would then be drawn (for the purpose of the match schedule), with the pot 1 teams automatically drawn into position 1 of each group. The pots for the draw are shown below.

Pot 1

Qatar (51) (hosts)

Brazil (1)

Belgium (2)

France (3)

Argentina (4)

England (5)

Spain (7)

Portugal (8)

Pot 2

Mexico (9)

Netherlands (10)

Denmark (11)

Germany (12)

Uruguay (13)

Switzerland (14)

United States (15)

Croatia (16)

Pot 3

Senegal (20)

Iran (21)

Japan (23)

Morocco (24)

Serbia (25)

Poland (26)

South Korea (29)

Tunisia (35)

Pot 4

Cameroon (37)

Canada (38)

Ecuador (46)

Saudi Arabia (49)

Ghana (60)

Wales (18) [c]

Costa Rica (31) [d]

Australia (42) [e]

Schedule

Unlike previous FIFA World Cups, which are typically played in June and July, the 2022 World Cup will be played in November and December to avoid the intense Qatari summer heat. As a result, the World Cup will be unusually staged in the middle of the seasons of domestic football leagues which start in late July or August, including all of the major European leagues, which have been obliged to incorporate extended breaks into their domestic schedules to accommodate the World Cup. In contrast, domestic leagues which typically start their seasons in the northern spring and play through the summer, such as Major League Soccer, will be able to conclude their seasons before the start of the tournament.

The match schedule was confirmed by FIFA on 15 July 2020. The only group stage fixture with a venue and time confirmed was on the opening day featuring the hosts Qatar, will be played on 21 November 2022 at the Al Bayt Stadium. During the group stage, four matches will be played each day, with kick-off times being 13:00, 16:00, 19:00, and 22:00 for the first two rounds, and 18:00 and 22:00 for the simultaneous kick-offs of the last round and for knockout stage matches. The third-place match will be played on 17 December 2022 at the Khalifa International Stadium, and the final will be played on 18 December 2022 at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, both at 18:00.

Unlike previous tournaments where the match venues and kick-off times for each fixture are set prior to the draw, the assignment of group fixtures for each matchday to a specific venue and kick-off time was only be made after the group stage draw and the teams of each specific fixture are known. This is due to the close proximity of the venues, which allowed the organisers to optimise stadium allocation for spectators and kick-off times for television audiences. The group stage matches for each group will be allocated to the following stadiums:

Groups A, B, E, F: Al Bayt Stadium, Khalifa International Stadium, Al Thumama Stadium, Ahmad bin Ali Stadium

Groups C, D, G, H: Lusail Iconic Stadium, Stadium 974, Education City Stadium, Al Janoub Stadium

Tie-breaking criteria for group play

Group A

Pos Teamvte Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification

1 Qatar (H) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage

2 Ecuador 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

3 Senegal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

4 Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

First match(es) will be played on 21 November 2022. Source: FIFA

(H) Host

21 November 2022