Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying has been delayed by the pandemic, but it will soon resume in September 2021. World Cup qualifiers will be taking place over the next 10 months in all six regions for the 32-team tournament scheduled for November and December 2022.

Where is 2022 World Cup qualifying?

The six regions include AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North America, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania) and UEFA (Europe). The host of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar, is automatically qualified. The remaining regions will be battling for the remaining 31 spots.

How many teams qualify for the 2022 World Cup Qatar from each region?

Teams will be vying for the available spots in their respective regions. UEFA Europe qualifying allows for 13 teams to advance, while Africa gets five slots. Concacaf qualifying has three teams advancing, while AFC Asia and Conmebol South America each get four spots. The final two teams will qualify in June 2022 in two playoffs between one team each from Concacaf, AFC, Conmebol and Oceania.

What is the 2022 World Cup qualifier schedule for UEFA Europe?

All 55 European nations began qualifying in March 2021 with 10 groups. The teams will play multiple matches in September, October and November to make up for the lost World Cup qualifying dates from June 2021 (the new date for Euro 2020). Group winners advance to the World Cup.

Group A: Portugal, Serbia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan

Group B: Spain, Sweden, Greece, Georgia, Kosovo

Group C: Italy, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Lithuania

Group D: France, Ukraine, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan

Group E: Belgium, Wales, Czech Republic, Belarus, Estonia

Group F: Denmark, Austria, Scotland, Israel, Faroe Islands, Moldova

Group G: Netherlands, Turkey, Norway, Montenegro, Latvia, Gibraltar

Group H: Croatia, Slovakia, Russia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta

Group I: England, Poland, Hungary, Albania, Andorra, San Marino

Group J: Germany, Romania, Iceland, North Macedonia, Armenia, Liechtenstein

Match Dates:

MD 1-3: March 24-31, 2021

MD 4-6: September 1-8, 2021

MD 7-8: October 8-12, 2021

MD 9-10: November 11-16, 2021

The final three places will be allocated via playoffs between the 10 runners-up plus the two best-ranked group winners in the 2020-21 UEFA Nations League.

What is the 2022 World Cup qualifier schedule for Concacaf?

CONCACAF has 35 soccer nations in North America, the Caribbean and Central America. 

The top 5 nations (Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, United States) in the FIFA world ranking automatically made the third round 8-team tournament.

In the first round of qualifying, nations 6-35 in the FIFA world ranking were drawn into six groups and the group winners advanced to the second round. 

Group A: El Salvador, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Montserrat, US Virgin Islands

Group B: Canada,Suriname, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Aruba

Group C: Curaçao, Guatemala, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Cuba, British Virgin Islands

Group D: Panama, Dominican Republic, Barbados, Dominica, Anguilla

Group E: Haiti, Nicaragua, Belize, St Lucia (withdrew), Turks and Caicos Islands

Group F: Trinidad and Tobago, St Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Puerto Rico, Bahamas

Those six played in a home and away knockout round and the three winners advanced to the third round – Canada, El Salvador, Panama. 

Saint Kitts and Nevis lost to El Salvador

Haiti lost to Canada

Panama defeated Curacao

The final eight teams will play each other home and away, a total of 14 matches. The top three qualify directly, with the fourth-placed team going to the intercontinental playoff vs. Asia or Oceania in June 2022.

United States World Cup qualifying schedule:

Sept. 2 at El Salvador

Sept. 5 vs. Canada in Nashville

Sept. 8 at Honduras

Oct. 7 vs. Jamaica

Oct. 10 at Panama

Oct 13 vs. Costa Rica

Nov. 12 vs. Mexico

Nov. 16 at Jamaica

Jan. 27 vs. El Salvador

Jan. 30 at Canada

Feb. 2 vs. Honduras

March 24 at Mexico

March 27 vs. Panama

March 30 at Costa Rica

Concacaf schedule for 2022 World Cup qualifiers

Matchday 1 – Thursday, September 2

• Canada vs. Honduras
• United States vs. El Salvador
• Panama vs. Costa Rica
• Mexico vs. Jamaica

Matchday 2 – Sunday, September 6

• United States vs. Canada
• El Salvador vs. Honduras
• Costa Rica vs. Mexico
• Jamaica vs. Panama

Matchday 3 – Wednesday, September 8

• Canada vs. El Salvador
• Honduras vs. United States
• Panama vs. Mexico
• Costa Rica vs. Jamaica

Matchday 4 – Thursday, October 7

• Mexico vs. Canada
• Honduras vs. Costa Rica
• El Salvador vs. Panama
• United States vs. Jamaica

Matchday 5 – Sunday, October 10

• Jamaica vs. Canada
• Mexico vs. Honduras
• Costa Rica vs. El Salvador
• Panama vs. United States

Matchday 6 – Wednesday, October 13

• Canada vs. Panama
• Honduras vs. Jamaica
• El Salvador vs. Mexico
• United States vs. Costa Rica

Matchday 7 – Friday, November 12

• Canada vs. Costa Rica
• Honduras vs. Panama
• El Salvador vs. Jamaica
• United States vs. Mexico

Matchday 8 – Tuesday, November 16

• Canada vs. Mexico
• Costa Rica vs. Honduras
• Panama vs. El Salvador
• Jamaica vs. United States

Matchday 9 – Thursday, January 27, 2022

• Honduras vs. Canada
• United States vs. El Salvador
• Costa Rica vs. Panama
• Jamaica vs. Mexico

Matchday 10 – Sunday, January 30, 2022

• Canada vs. United States
• Honduras vs. El Salvador
• Mexico vs. Costa Rica
• Panama vs. Jamaica

Matchday 11 – Wednesday, February 2, 2022

• El Salvador vs. Canada
• United States vs. Honduras
• Mexico vs. Panama
• Jamaica vs. Costa Rica

Matchday 12 – Thursday, March 24, 2022

• Costa Rica vs. Canada
• Panama vs. Honduras
• Jamaica vs. El Salvador
• Mexico vs. United States

Matchday 13 – Sunday, March 27, 2022

• Canada vs. Jamaica
• Honduras vs. Mexico
• El Salvador vs. Costa Rica
• United States vs. Panama

Matchday 14 – Wednesday, March 30, 2022

• Panama vs. Canada
• Jamaica vs. Honduras
• Mexico vs. El Salvador
• Costa Rica vs. United States

What is the 2022 World Cup qualifier schedule for Conmebol?

As in recent qualifying competitions, all 10 nations play each other home and away. The top four nations qualify directly to the World Cup. The fifth-place team will go into the intercontinental playoff. The Conmebol nations are Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile. 

Click here to view the current Conmebol schedule and results

What is the 2022 World Cup qualifier schedule for the other continents?

Africa (CAF)

There are 54 soccer-playing nations in Africa. 

Round One: The 28 lowest ranked nations played knockout matches home and away in September 2019.

Round Two: The 14 winners from the first round were joined by the other 26 African nations. Those 40 teams were split into 10 groups of four teams, with the group winners advancing to the final round.

The group stage will now begin in September 2021, and continue in the FIFA windows in October and November.

Group A: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Djibouti

Group B: Tunisia, Zambia, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea,

Group C: Nigeria, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Liberia

Group D: Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Malawi

Group E: Mali, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda

Group F: Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Angola

Group G: Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia

Group H: Senegal, Congo, Namibia, Togo

Group I: Morocco, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan

Group J: Congo DR, Benin, Madagascar, Tanzania

Round Three: The 10 group winners will be drawn into home-and-away matches for one of the five places at the World Cup. Games to be played in March 2022.

Asia (AFC)

Round One: The 12 lowest ranked nations played home and away in June 2019.

Round Two: The six winners from the first round joined the other 34 Asian nations, drawn into eight groups of five teams.

The eight group winners and the four best group runners-up went through.

Round Three (final group round): The remaining 12 nations have been drawn into two groups of six teams. Group winners and runners-up will qualify for the World Cup. To be played September 2021 to March 2022.

Group A: Iran, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon

Group B: Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, China, Oman, Vietnam

Round Four: The teams finishing third in round three played a two-legged playoff, to be played May or June 2022. The winners then advanced to an inter-confederation playoff, to be played June 2022.

Oceania (OFC)

All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams are due to take part.

Round One: Teams split into two groups based upon FIFA World Ranking playing round robin games. The top two nations in each group progress. At present there is no date though January 2022 has been suggested.

Round Two: The four teams play home and away semifinals and final for the right to go through to the intercontinental playoff (June 2022).

Intercontinental Playoff (2 spots)

This will feature one team each from Asia, CONCACAF, Oceania and South America. A draw will determine the home and away matchups. They will be played in June 2022.

Which teams qualified for the 2018 World Cup?

Notably, the United States, Italy, and the Netherlands failed to qualify. Here is the list of teams who qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Russia, Brazil, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Belgium, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Germany, England, Spain, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Poland, Egypt, Iceland, Serbia, Portugal, France, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia, Panama, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Switzerland, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Peru

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