World Cup playoffs: Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Poland still come to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

Spain, Serbia, Croatia, Switzerland, England and the Netherlands bought their tickets for the final round of the World Cup in Qatar (November 21 to December 18, 2022) on the last day of the European World Cup qualification.

Previously, Germany, Denmark, Brazil, defending champions France and Belgium had already qualified for the World Cup. Host Qatar is also set automatically.

So there are still plenty of free places. In addition to the teams from Africa, Asia and Oceania and South America, three other European nations will jump on the World Cup train via the playoffs.

European champions Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Poland, among others, are worried about superstars Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robert Lewandowski for their World Cup tickets. Next spring there will be a showdown in playoffs.

But how exactly do these games work and when do they take place?

This is how the World Cup playoffs run in Europe

The draw for the European World Cup playoffs will take place on November 26, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. in Zurich.

Group second World Cup qualification:

• Portugal
• Sweden
• Italy
• Ukraine
• Wales
• Scotland
• Turkey
• Russia
• Poland
• North Macedonia

Group winners Nations League:

The best six runners-up in the group will be placed in pot 1 for the playoff tournament and have home rights in the semi-finals.

Portugal and Italy could, for example, be drawn together with Poland and Turkey – only one of these teams can then qualify for the World Cup. Russia and Ukraine are not allowed to compete against each other for political reasons.

PLAYOFFS 1:

Semi-finals (March 24, 2022):
Team from lottery 1 – team from lottery 2
Team from lottery 1 – team from lottery 2

Final (March 29, 2022):
Winner semi-final 1 – Winner semi-final 2

PLAYOFFS 2:

Semi-finals (March 24, 2022):
Team from lottery 1 – team from lottery 2
Team from lottery 1 – team from lottery 2

Final (March 29, 2022):
Winner semi-final 1 – Winner semi-final 2

PLAYOFFS 3:

Semi-finals (March 24, 2022):
Team from lottery 1 – team from lottery 2
Team from lottery 1 – team from lottery 2

Final (March 29, 2022):
Winner semi-final 1 – Winner semi-final 2

World Cup 2022: These teams are qualified for Qatar

Already there (13 of 32 participants):

• Qatar (host)
• Germany (Europe)
• Denmark (Europe)
• England (Europe)
• Netherlands (Europe)
• France (Europe)
• Belgium (Europe)
• Croatia (Europe)
• Switzerland (Europe)
• Serbia (Europe)
• Spain (Europe)
• Brazil (South America)
• Argentina (South America)

WM 2022: The starting places per continental association

Qatar is set as the host without qualification for the tournament in their own country. The remaining 31 participants will be determined as part of the World Cup qualification of the six continental associations:

Intercontinental playoffs:
2 starting places

Which associations compete against each other in the two intercontinental playoffs will be drawn.

It will take some time until the entire field of participants for the World Cup has been determined. In March 2021, the Executive Committee of the OFC announced that the oceanic qualification had to be rescheduled. The previous schedule, starting in June 2021, could no longer be adhered to due to the corona pandemic.

There is currently the possibility of hosting a qualifying tournament in January 2022, which will determine the Oceanic participant in the intercontinental playoff. However, due to the ongoing border closings in the region, the OFC Executive Committee believes it is unrealistic to hold such an event in the region. The tournament is therefore scheduled to take place in Qatar in March 2022.

The draw for the World Cup finals will take place on April 1, 2022 in Qatar’s capital Doha.