29 of the 32 nations which will be involved in the World Cup in Qatar are currently known and they will be drawn into eight groups of four.
Follow Us
The draw for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be held on Friday in Doha. Mexico and the United States booked the final two automatic places on Wednesday. 29 of the 32 nations which will be involved in the World Cup are currently known and they 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 either Ukraine or Scotland in the final.
The United States secured a place for the tournament despite a 2-0 loss to Costa Rica, while Mexico also sealed qualification with a 2-0 win against El Salvador, and both will be in Pot 2.
Pot 1 contains the hosts, Qatar, along with the strongest seven nations according to the new FIFA World Ranking, which will be officially published on Thursday ahead of the draw.
Read more: Portugal advance, is it Cristiano Ronaldo’s last go at World Cup?
Next stop: #FinalDraw
Discover the groups on 1 April#FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/w6EdQFa0WL
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) March 31, 2022
Qatar
Brazil
Belgium
France
Argentina
England
Spain
Portugal
Pot 2 and 3 are also filled according to the FIFA World Rankings while Pot 4 contains the five lowest-ranked nations along with the winners of the three remaining play-offs.
Mexico
Netherlands
Denmark
Germany
Uruguay
Switzerland
United States
Croatia
IR Iran
Japan
Morocco
Serbia
Poland
South Korea
Tunisia
Cameroon
Canada
Ecuador
Saudi Arabia
Wales or Scotland/ Ukraine
Costa Rica or New Zealand
Peru or Australia/ United Arab Emirates
Qatar as hosts will be seeded and is directly assigned to the A1 slot, they will play in Group A. One team from the four pots will be in each group. Europe has the maximum number of participating nations, i.e. 13, and therefore five of the eight groups will contain at least two European teams. There can be no more than one team from any other confederation.
Meanwhile for a second edition running Asia will have a record five representatives at the World Cup and it could be more. After the completion of the third round of Asian qualifiers for the World Cup, host nation Qatar was joined by Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Iran. Meanwhile the winner of UAE vs Australia playoff on June 7, will take on South America’s fifth placed qualifier Peru for one of two final tickets to the tournament in the inter-confederation playoffs.
The draw will take place on Friday, April 1, 21:30 IST at a gala event to be held at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center in Doha, Qatar. The event will be attended by 2000 guests and will be led by Carli lloyd, Jermaine Jenas and Samantha Johnson, assisted by the likes of Cafu (Brazil), Lothar Matthaus (Germany), Abdel Ahmed MalAllah (Qatar), Ali Daei (IR Iran), Bora Milutinovic (Serbia/Mexico), Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria), Rabah Madjer (Algeria) and Tim Cahill (Australia).
