# 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group H

The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group H was one of the ten UEFA groups in the World Cup qualification tournament to decide which teams would qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals tournament in Qatar. Group H consisted of six teams: Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia. The teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format.
The group winners, Croatia, qualified directly for the World Cup finals, while the runners-up, Russia, advanced to the second round (play-offs), but they were later suspended due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

## Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | | | |
| 1 | Croatia | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 4 | +17 | 23 | Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup | — | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| 2 | Russia | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 6 | +13 | 22 | Advance to play-offs | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | 2–1 | 6–0 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Slovakia | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 17 | 10 | +7 | 14 | | 0–1 | 2–1 | — | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 |
| 4 | Slovenia | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 12 | +1 | 14 | | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| 5 | Cyprus | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 21 | −17 | 5 | | 0–3 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | — | 2–2 |
| 6 | Malta | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 30 | −21 | 5 | | 1–7 | 1–3 | 0–6 | 0–4 | 3–0 | — |
* ↑ On 28 February 2022, FIFA suspended Russia from international competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

## Matches

The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 8 December 2020, the day following the draw. Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

## Goalscorers

There were 83 goals scored in 30 matches, for an average of 2.77 goals per match.
4 goals
* Ondrej Duda
* Josip Iličić
3 goals
* Luka Modrić
* Mario Pašalić
* Ivan Perišić
* Artem Dzyuba
* Aleksandr Yerokhin
2 goals
* Andrej Kramarić
* Marko Livaja
* Lovro Majer
* Cain Attard
* Joseph Mbong
* Mário Fernandes
* Fyodor Smolov
* Albert Rusnák
* Ivan Schranz
* Milan Škriniar
* David Strelec
* Sandi Lovrić
* Miha Zajc
1 goal
* Josip Brekalo
* Marcelo Brozović
* Duje Ćaleta-Car
* Joško Gvardiol
* Nikola Vlašić
* Andronikos Kakoullis
* Fotis Papoulis
* Ioannis Pittas
* Pieros Sotiriou
* Jurgen Degabriele
* Luke Gambin
* Zach Muscat
* Alexander Satariano
* Zelimkhan Bakayev
* Igor Diveyev
* Georgi Dzhikiya
* Andrei Mostovoy
* Aleksandr Sobolev
* Aleksei Sutormin
* Anton Zabolotny
* Rifat Zhemaletdinov
* Róbert Boženík
* Vernon De Marco
* Lukáš Haraslín
* Martin Koscelník
* Róbert Mak
* Adam Gnezda Čerin
* Miha Mevlja
* Benjamin Šeško
* Andraž Šporar
* Petar Stojanović
1 own goal
* Marcelo Brozović (against Malta)
* Fyodor Kudryashov (against Croatia)
* Milan Škriniar (against Russia)

## Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:
* Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
* Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches (yellow card suspensions were carried forward to the play-offs, but not the finals or any other future international matches)
The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches:
| Team | Player | Offence(s) | Suspended for match(es) |
| Croatia | Borna Barišić | vs Slovenia (24 March 2021) vs Slovakia (11 October 2021) | vs Malta (11 November 2021) |
| Croatia | Mateo Kovačić | vs Cyprus (27 March 2021) vs Cyprus (8 October 2021) | vs Slovakia (11 October 2021) |
| Croatia | Marko Rog | vs Portugal in 2020–21 UEFA Nations League (17 November 2020) | vs Slovenia (24 March 2021) |
| Croatia | Domagoj Vida | vs Slovenia (24 March 2021) vs Malta (30 March 2021) | vs Russia (1 September 2021) |
| Cyprus | Kostakis Artymatas | vs Russia (4 September 2021) vs Croatia (8 October 2021) | vs Malta (11 October 2021) |
| Cyprus | Andreas Avraam | vs Slovakia (7 September 2021) vs Croatia (8 October 2021) | vs Malta (11 October 2021) |
| Cyprus | Constantinos Soteriou | vs Malta (1 September 2021) | vs Russia (4 September 2021) |
| Malta | Ryan Camenzuli | vs Slovakia (27 March 2021) vs Russia (7 September 2021) | vs Slovenia (8 October 2021) |
| Malta | Joseph Mbong | vs Cyprus (1 September 2021) vs Slovenia (8 October 2021) | vs Cyprus (11 October 2021) |
| Malta | Enrico Pepe | vs Slovenia (4 September 2021) vs Croatia (11 November 2021) | vs Slovakia (14 November 2021) |
| Malta | Alexander Satariano | vs Slovenia (4 September 2021) vs Slovenia (8 October 2021) | vs Cyprus (11 October 2021) |
| Russia | Aleksei Miranchuk | vs Slovenia (27 March 2021) vs Malta (7 September 2021) | vs Slovakia (8 October 2021) |
| Russia | Rifat Zhemaletdinov | vs Malta (24 March 2021) vs Slovakia (30 March 2021) | vs Croatia (1 September 2021) |
| Slovakia | Dávid Hancko | vs Cyprus (7 September 2021) vs Croatia (11 October 2021) | vs Slovenia (11 November 2021) |
| Slovakia | Juraj Kucka | vs Russia (8 October 2021) vs Croatia (11 October 2021) | vs Slovenia (11 November 2021) |
| Slovakia | Peter Pekarík | vs Croatia (4 September 2021) vs Slovenia (11 November 2021) | vs Malta (14 November 2021) |
| Slovakia | Ivan Schranz | vs Slovenia (1 September 2021) vs Croatia (11 October 2021) | vs Slovenia (11 November 2021) |
| Slovenia | Jaka Bijol | vs Croatia (7 September 2021) vs Russia (11 October 2021) | vs Slovakia (11 November 2021) |
| Slovenia | Miha Blažič | vs Slovakia (11 November 2021) | vs Cyprus (14 November 2021) |
| Slovenia | Adam Gnezda Čerin | vs Slovakia (1 September 2021) vs Russia (11 October 2021) | vs Slovakia (11 November 2021) |
| Slovenia | Josip Iličić | vs Cyprus (30 March 2021) vs Slovakia (1 September 2021) | vs Malta (4 September 2021) |
| Slovenia | Jasmin Kurtić | vs Croatia (24 March 2021) vs Cyprus (30 March 2021) | vs Slovakia (1 September 2021) |
| Slovenia | Jasmin Kurtić | vs Malta (4 September 2021) vs Russia (11 October 2021) | vs Slovakia (11 November 2021) |
| Slovenia | Miha Mevlja | vs Croatia (24 March 2021) vs Russia (27 March 2021) | vs Cyprus (30 March 2021) |