The draw for the 2022 World Cup will take place in Doha on April 1, and will determine which teams will face each other at the tournament later this year. Here, Telegraph Sport explains how the remaining places in the tournament will be filled and how the draw will work.
Who has qualified so far?
Europe: England, Germany, Denmark, France, Croatia, Belgium, Spain, Serbia, Switzerland, Holland, Portugal, Poland
South America: Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay
Africa: Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia
Asia: Qatar (hosts), South Korea, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia
North and Central America: Canada
What still needs to be decided?
The final European spot will not be filled until later this year, as Scotland’s play-off semi-final against Ukraine has been postponed due to the war in Ukraine. The winner of that match will face Wales in Cardiff in a subsequent play-off final.
The team that finishes fifth in South American qualifying will then face an inter-confederation play-off against a team from Asia. The Asian opponent will be determined by a confederation play-off between two teams in that region.
The fourth-placed team in the North and Central American region will face the winners of the Oceania region (New Zealand play Solomon Islands in their final on Wednesday) in a play-off.
All play-off matches are scheduled to take place in June, although there is still uncertainty over Ukraine’s meeting with Scotland. Steve Clarke, the Scotland manager, has expressed doubts over whether the game will indeed take place on its rearranged date in June, given the situation in Ukraine.
How are the pots determined?
The 29 qualified teams and three “play-off spot placeholders” will be allocated to four pots of eight teams each, based on the Fifa world rankings released following the conclusion of this week’s international fixtures.
The highest-ranked seven teams will go into Pot 1, along with hosts Qatar. Teams ranked eight to 15 will be placed into Pot 2. Teams ranked 16 to 23 will go into Pot Three, while Pot Four will include teams ranked 24 upwards and the three “play-off spot placeholders”.
Can teams from the same continent play each other?
Fifa says its “general principle”, wherever possible, is to make sure that no group has more than one team from the same “qualification zone” drawn into it. Brazil, for example, cannot be drawn into the same group as Uruguay.
However, this principle does not apply to teams from Europe. There will be 13 European teams in Qatar, which means that five out of the eight World Cup groups will contain two European sides. There cannot be more than two European teams in one group. These geographic principles will also apply to the “play-off placeholder slots”.
What does the ranking system mean for the home nations?
England are guaranteed to be among the top seeds due to their world ranking of fifth. Also certain of a place in Pot 1 are Qatar, Belgium, France, Brazil, Argentina and Spain.
Germany, who are currently ranked at 11, will go into Pot 2 and could therefore be drawn against England in the group stages. Holland and Croatia also represent two potentially tricky opponents in the second pot.
If either Scotland or Wales make it to Qatar ahead of Ukraine, they will go into Pot 4. They can therefore expect to be handed a tough draw, on paper at least.
