January 29, (THEWILL) – The competition for tickets to the biggest football competition in the calendar, FIFA’s World Cup billed for later this year in Qatar, is hotter than ever. Although some teams have already booked their places through an arduous regional qualification series, there are still some tickets left across different Football Associations.
CAF
Ten African teams have advanced to the final round of African qualifying under the auspices of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). These teams have been drawn for a two-legged playoff in March, as below. The five winners will go to Qatar in 2022 to represent Africa.
Egypt versus Senegal
Cameroon versus Algeria
Nigeria versus Ghana
DR Congo versus Morocco
Mali versus Tunisia
AFC
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will be represented by five or six teams. The teams were divided into two groups, with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the Qatar 2022 tournament. In a single-game tie, the third-placed teams in each section will compete for a spot in an intercontinental play-off for a spot at the World Cup.
Qatar qualifies as hosts.
After seven matchdays, the standings and points gained of national teams in Groups A and B are as follows:
Group A
IR Iran 19 points
Korea Republic 17 pts
United Arab Emirates 9 pts
Lebanon 5 pts
Iraq 4 pts
Syria 2 pts
Group B
Saudi Arabia 19 pts
Japan 15 pts
Australia 14 pts
Oman 7 pts
China PR 5 pts
Vietnam 0 pts
UEFA
In Qatar, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) will be represented by 13 teams from across Europe. National teams from Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, and France qualified for Qatar after an exciting qualification campaign that saw some predicted results and some head-scratching upsets. Germany, the Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, and Switzerland joined them.
Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, and Wales are among the teams who did not make the cut and will compete in play-offs for a ticket.
CONCACAF
The single-group qualifying process of the Confederation of North, Central And Caribbean American Association Football (CONCACAF), will see three or four teams to represent the region in Qatar.
The top three teams will advance directly to Qatar 2022, while the team that finishes in third place will compete in an intercontinental playoff. Presently, after matchday nine, the table places and points acquired stand as:
Canada 19 points
USA 18 pts
Mexico 17 pts
Panama 14 pts
Costa Rica 12 pts
Jamaica 7 pts
El Salvador 6 pts
Honduras 3 pts
OFC
At Qatar 2022, the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) may be represented by one team. The OFC qualifications will follow a mini-tournament structure, with eight teams competing in a round-robin group stage, semi-finals, and final. From March 14 through March 30, 2022, all matches will be held in Qatar.
The teams were divided into two groups for the round-robin group stage as a consequence of the draw:
Group A:
Solomon Islands
Tahiti
Vanuatu
Tonga or Cook Islands
Group B:
New Zealand
New Caledonia
Fiji
Papua New Guinea
The semi-finals will be held for the two group winners and the two group runners-up. The winners of the two semi-finals will meet in the final to select the OFC representative who will compete in the FIFA intercontinental play-offs in June 2022 against the CONCACAF representative for a spot in the final competition.
CONMEBOL
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) will send four or five teams to Qatar. Similar to the qualifying process in the CONCACAF region, there is a single group of all South American national teams, who play each other for the tickets to the World Cup in the region.
The top four teams will qualify for the World Cup and an intercontinental playoff will be held for the fifth-place team to get a chance to reach Qatar.
Group leaders Brazil and Argentina have already booked their places from the qualifiers while third-placed team Ecuador is one win away from clinching a ticket. After matchday 14 (or 15 for some teams), the group standings and points are thus:
Brazil 36 points
Argentina 32 pts
Ecuador 15 24 pts
Peru 20 pts
Uruguay 19 pts
Colombia 17 pts
Chile 16 pts
Bolivia 15 pts
Paraguay 13 pts
Venezuela 10 pts
