The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that will join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Parallel tournaments were organised by FIFA’s six confederations. Qualification started on 6 June 2019 with several matches of the AFC zone, the first being between Mongolia and Brunei, and ended on 14 June 2022 with an inter-confederation play-off between Costa Rica and New Zealand. Mongolian player Norjmoogiin Tsedenbal netted the first goal, while the last one was scored by Joel Campbell of Costa Rica. In contrast to previous editions, there was no general preliminary draw, with confederations carrying out separate draws due to their differing timelines.[better source needed] The qualification process suffered numerous postponements from March 2020 onwards due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All FIFA member associations, of which there are currently 211, were eligible to enter qualification. Qatar, as hosts, qualified automatically for the tournament. However, Qatar was obliged by the AFC to participate in the Asian qualifying stage as the first two rounds also acted as qualification for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.Qatar won their group so the fifth-best group runners-up advanced to the AFC third round instead.For the first time after the initial two tournaments of 1930 and 1934, the World Cup will be hosted by a country whose national team has never played a finals match before. The reigning World Cup champions France also participated in qualifying as normal.
Seven teams withdrew. Saint Lucia initially entered CONCACAF qualification, but later retreated. North Korea also withdrew from the AFC second qualifying round for safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. American Samoa and Samoa likewise retracted their participation ahead of the draw for the OFC qualifiers, while Tonga withdrew after the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai eruption and tsunami. After COVID-19 outbreaks in their squads during the OFC qualifiers in Doha, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands also withdrew.
The allocation of slots for each confederation was discussed by the FIFA Executive Committee on 30 May 2015 in Zürich after the FIFA Congress.The committee decided that the same allocation used in 2006, 2010, and 2014 would be kept for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments:
AFC (Asia): 4 or 5
CAF (Africa): 5
CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean): 3 or 4
CONMEBOL (South America): 4 or 5
OFC (Oceania): 0 or 1
UEFA (Europe): 13
Hosts: 1
FIFA World cup Qatar 2022 Comparison
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