Soccer

2022 World Cup qualifying draw: European nations learn paths to Qatar

The 2022 World Cup qualifying draw for European nations was held Monday in Zurich, Switzerland, with UEFA’s 55 hopefuls learning their respective routes to the tournament in Qatar.

With the continent’s perennial contenders all seeded going into Monday’s event, the draw was light on heavyweight tilts, but still provided plenty of intriguing matchups across the 10 groups.

Group A: Portugal, Serbia, Republic of 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

How does qualifying work?

Thirteen European nations will feature at the 2022 World Cup.

The 10 group winners will automatically qualify for the tournament.

Meanwhile, the 10 group runners-up will enter the playoffs, along with two teams that won their Nations League groups – if the latter have already reached the playoffs via the traditional qualifying route above, their playoff berths will pass to the next-best Nations League teams. That final group of 12 playoff teams will be evenly drawn into three paths, with the winner of each path booking a place at world football’s showpiece event

The European qualifiers – including the playoffs – run from March 2021 to March 2022.

When is the 2022 World Cup?

The World Cup itself is slated to begin Nov. 21, 2022, with the final scheduled for Dec. 22 at Lusail Stadium in Doha.

Qatar’s intense summer heat facilitated a switch to the winter months, making the tournament the first of its kind not to be held in May, June, or July.