World Cup Qualification Explained

Qualifying Rounds

Of the 31 teams that need to qualify for the World Cup, there are 5 entries from the Confederation of African Football, or CAF, 4.5 entries from the Asian Football Confederation, or AFC, 13 entries from the Union of European Football Associations, or UEFA, 3.5 from the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, or CONCACAF, 0.5 entries from the Oceania Football Confederation, or OFC and 4.5 entries from the South American Football Confederation, or CONMEBOL. Where there are confederations with 0.5 entries, what this means is that there are teams who qualify to a playoff series with teams from a different confederation. There is a playoff between two entries from the AFC and CONMEBOL confederations, a playoff between winners of the CONCACAF and OFC confederations and a UEFA Path A playoff, between four UEFA nations.

CAF

For the 2022 World Cup, there were three rounds to determine which teams would qualify amongst the African nations. In the first round, 28 teams, ranking 27-54 in the confederation rankings, played in a two legged knockout fixture with the 14 winners advancing to the second round. The second round placed the 14 winners of the first round against 26 other teams, who were ranked 1-26 in the CAF rankings, and these 40 teams were divided into 10 groups of 4. The groups played in a home and away robin round against the other teams in their group, and the 10 winners advanced to the third round. The third round was played in a two legged knockout between the 10 group winners, and the five winners of the round qualified for the World Cup.

AFC

Qualification for the Asian teams took place over four rounds. The first round was played amongst the 12 teams that were ranked 35-46 in a two leg knockout round. The six winners advanced to the second round. In the second round, the six winners were joined by 34 teams, ranking 1-34, and they were split into eight groups of five. The teams in the groups played two legged robin rounds against the other teams in their respective groups, and the eight winners and four best runners up advanced to the third round. The 12 teams in the third round were divided into two groups of six, where they played two legged robin rounds against the other teams in their group. The winners and runners up of the groups qualified for the 2022 World Cup, and the two teams that placed in third advanced to a fourth round where they played for which team will qualify for the inter-confederation play offs.

UEFA

The 55 European teams were seeded into five groups of 5 and five groups of 6. The teams played in a double legged robin round with the other teams in their groups and the 10 group winners qualified for the World Cup. There was a play off stage, where the 10 group runners-up played against the two best Nations League group winners, based on the Nations League overall ranking, and were drawn into three playoff paths. These playoffs featured 4 teams that played in two rounds of single match playoffs. The final 3 winners joined the 10 group winners to make the 13 European entries for the World Cup.

CONCACAF

The format of the CONCACAF qualification was changed in 2020, and the new format has been applied ever since. In this structure, the 30 teams, ranked 6-35, were drawn into six groups of five, where they played in a single robin round. The group winners qualified for the second round, where they were paired and played in a two-legged home and away knockout round. The three winners of the second round joined the top five CONCACAF teams and were placed in one group, where they played in a home and away robin round. The top three teams in the group qualified for the World Cup, whilst the team that placed fourth advanced to the inter-confederation playoffs.

OFC

The Oceanic nations played in two qualification rounds. The first round was a single match between the two lowest ranking teams, with the winner advancing to the second round. The second round was played between eight teams that were drawn into groups of four and played in a single leg round robin format. The winners and runners up of both groups advanced to a final playoffs where they were paired and played in single match knockouts. The winner of the final playoffs advanced to the inter-confederation playoffs.

CONMEBOL

The 10 South American teams were placed into one group. All teams played in a double robin round format. The top 4 placing teams qualified for the World Cup, whilst the team that finished in 5th place advanced to the inter-confederation playoffs.