FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers

Football’s flagship tournament, the FIFA World Cup, is set to take place in Qatar in November. Starting November 21st, 32 nations will compete in 8 different groups, hoping to progress to the final on December 18th with a chance of being crowned world champions. It’s the festival of football that captivates audiences worldwide. This FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers guide will help explain a little more about the tournament format, where we’re at with qualifying, and where you can watch all the action.

With the qualifying process whittling down more than 200 nations to just 32 for the tournament, 29 places have already been filled. And their fans can start thinking about booking those tickets to Qatar. Read on to learn more about the 2022 FIFA world cup qualification.

How do the FIFA World Cup qualifiers work?

Every team that goes to the World Cup needs to qualify except the host nation – this time, it’s Qatar. It’s a ruthless process – cutting more than 200 nations down to just 31 places.

To do this, World Cup qualifiers take place in group stages as countries go head-to-head in their delegated FIFA continental confederation.

There are six continental groupings: UEFA (Europe), AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America, & Caribbean, CONMEBOL (South America), and OFC (Oceania).

From these continental groupings, teams complete over a three-year-long qualification process to earn the right to take to the field at the World Cup, with a differing amount of countries allowed to progress from each continental group. For instance, UEFA is given 13 places, whereas CAF is given five.

When will the intercontinental playoffs be played?

Our Australian team have found themselves third in their qualifying group, meaning we have to get through a series of playoffs to seal our place for Qatar 2022. The Socceroos will play UAE on June 8th, with a friendlies match against Jordan on June 2nd.

Event	Venue	Date/Time	Provider
Australia vs UAE	Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Doha, Qatar	Wednesday, 8th June 2022 – 4am AEST	Network Ten

Who has qualified for the FIFA World Cup?

The following 29 countries have qualified for Qatar 2022 so far: Qatar (as hosts), Germany, Denmark, Brazil, Belgium, France, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland, Netherlands, Argentina, Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Ecuador, Uruguay, Canada, Ghana, Senegal, Poland, Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia, Cameroon, Mexico, United States.

That leaves two places left up for grabs – one place is to be decided by an intercontinental playoff, and the other European playoff final has been delayed due to the crisis in Ukraine, who have not been able to play their fixture.

How to watch the remaining FIFA World Cup Qualifiers?

Broadcasting rights for Australian football have been won by Channel 10 and its owner, ViacomCBS.

That means you can catch all the games on its streaming service Paramount Plus. The service launched in Australia in August.

Stream and watch in early June to see if Australia can book their place in Qatar.

How to watch the 2022 FIFA World Cup

When the time comes, whether Australia are there or not, SBS will be the exclusive broadcaster to watch all the 2022 World Cup matches on free to air.

The completely free service will be your place to watch all 64 games of the football extravaganza, including the showpiece final.

They also offer a dedicated streaming service to watch games on various mobile devices. It’s now easier than ever to make sure you don’t miss a moment.

Watch highlights with Optus Sports

Optus Sports is a sports streaming service that specialises in live football coverage.

They burst onto the scene when they secured the rights to stream the English Premier League back in 2016.

You can watch a whole heap of live football action from around the world on the service with a range of subscriptions plans.

You can catch 2022 World Cup qualifiers highlights on there as well as highlights of the main competition when it comes around in November.

Looking ahead to the 2022 World Cup Group stage matches

The world cup draw for the group stages of the competition takes place on Friday, April 1st.

This will decide who plays who in the first round of matches in Qatar in late November.

32 qualified teams will be drawn into eight groups of four from four pots. Each group will feature one team from the four separate pots based on FIFA rankings. The top-ranking teams join host nation Qatar in pot 1, in descending rank through pots 2, 3, and 4. The winners of the intercontinental playoffs will go into pot four.

This is designed to create eight groups of four teams with varied abilities. All teams and fans will be on the edge of their seats to discover who they will face in the first stage, where teams play each of the other teams in their group just once.

After playing just three games, it’s either time to pack up and go home or on to the next round, with the top two teams from each group progressing. 

The competition then enters the knockout stages, progressing through the last 16, the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, and the final. Every nation is in with a chance to lift the highest honour in the sport, just 7 games away from glory.

Yet, in reality, there’s only ever a handful of countries in with a shout of claiming victory – let’s take a look at some of the firm favourites.

Teams to watch

Three teams that are tipped to do well are Brazil, France, and England.

Brazil

The five-time world champions are consistently among the firm favourites in their iconic yellow and blue strip. They’ve lost just twice in their last 27 games. They are second in FIFA’s world rankings, and it’s not hard to see why as their team is littered with talent throughout.

They will be hard to beat with Neymar Jr and Vinicious Jr. up top, the likes of Fabinho and Casemiro in the middle, and world-class defenders like Marquinhos at the back in front of the choice of two quality goalkeepers in Ederson and Allison.

However, they have flattered to deceive in recent tournaments. Will they get it right this time?

France

The current holders are similarly blessed with household names in every position. Didier Deschamps has the best squad on paper at his disposal with the likes of Mbappe, Griezmann, Pogba, and the resurgent Benzema rewelcomed into the fold of the national team.

They were electric four years ago but faltered at the Euro Championships as they were knocked out by Switzerland at the last 16 stage – can they rediscover their winning touch?

England

The Euro 2020 runners up are always in contention going into a World Cup. With a young squad full of potential, they achieved their best performance in decades at Euro 2020 producing solid performances only to fall at the much-maligned final hurdle of the penalty shootout.

They have qualified with ease and flair and can be confident once more heading to Qatar in November.

Dark Horses

Over the years, the World Cup has thrown up some intriguing surprise performances. Pundits always look to pick out who may outperform expectations.

The United States are a team with little expectation but have considerable potential with rising talents like Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams, and Gio Reyna. AFCON winners Senegal have built up a habit of winning games – and any team with Sadio Mane will provide a danger to the opposition. With considerable support in the Gulf, perhaps Iran can leverage the home advantage in Qatar to spring a surprise or two.

Other Sports to watch on Kayo

Some of the other sports you can watch on Kayo include:

FAQS

Let’s address some of the questions you may have about the 2022 World Cup.