2022 FIFA World Cup (Events of Time)

## 2022 FIFA World Cup

2022 FIFA World Cup Official Logo

The **2022 FIFA World Cup** was an international football tournament contested by men's national teams that took place between 21 November - 18 December in Qatar. It was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, a worldwide football tournament contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA and held once every four years. It was the second time the championships had been held in Asia, and the first time they were held in the Middle East. At an estimated cost of over $15 billion, it was the most expensive World Cup to date.

This will be the first World Cup ever to be held in the Arab world, and the second World Cup held entirely in Asia after the 2002 tournament was held in South Korea and Japan. In addition, the tournament will be the last to involve 32 teams, with an increase to 48 teams scheduled for the 2026 tournament in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The reigning World Cup champions are France. Due to Qatar's intense summer heat, this World Cup will be held from late-November to mid-December, making it the first tournament not to be held in May, June, or July. It is to be played in a reduced timeframe of around 28 days.

The tournament phase involved 32 teams, of which 31 came through qualifying competitions, while as the host nation Qatar qualified automatically. Of the 32, 23 had also appeared in the 2018 event, while Qatar made its first appearance at the World Cup. 64 matches were played in 12 venues across 11 cities. France, the defending champions, were the runner-ups. Host nation Qatar was eliminated in the group stage. In the final, England played France on 15 July at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. England won the match ?-? to claim their second World Cup.

## Qualified Teams

As of 21 November 2022, 32 nations have qualified for the finals, including 24 that competed at the previous tournament in 2018. Qatar are the only team making their debut in the FIFA World Cup, becoming the first hosts to make their tournament debut since Italy in 1934. As a result, the 2022 tournament is the first World Cup in which none of the teams that earned a spot through qualification were making their debut. The Netherlands, Ecuador, Ghana, Cameroon and the United States returned to the tournament after missing the 2018 tournament. Canada returned after 36 years, their only prior appearance being in 1986. After Russia's invasion failed, Ukraine defeated Scotland and Wales and qualified for the second time ever; the first being 2006.

Australia, Egypt, Nigeria, Panama, Colombia, Iceland, Russia, and Sweden missed the tournament after qualifying for the 2018 tournament. Four-time champions and winners of UEFA Euro 2020, Italy, failed to qualify for a second successive World Cup for the first time in their history, losing in the qualification play-off semi-finals against North Macedonia. The Italians were the only former champions that failed to qualify. The previous World Cup hosts, Russia, were disqualified from competing due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Nigeria went out to Ghana on away goals in CAF's final playoff round, having qualified for the previous three World Cups and six out of the last seven.

AFC (5)
* Iran
* Japan
* Qatar **(host)**
* South Korea
* Saudi Arabia

CAF (5)
* Cameroon
* Ghana
* Morocco
* Senegal
* Tunisia

CONCACAF (4)
* Canada
* Costa Rica (Qualified via playoff confederation)
* Mexico
* United States

CONMEBOL (5)
* Argentina
* Brazil
* Ecuador
* Peru (Qualified via playoff confederation)
* Uruguay

OFC (0)
UEFA (13)
* Belgium
* Croatia
* Denmark
* England
* France
* Germany
* Netherlands
* Portugal
* Serbia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Ukraine

## Draw

For the draw, the teams were allocated to four pots based on the FIFA World Rankings of October 2021. Pot one contained the host Qatar (who were automatically assigned to position A1) and the best seven teams. Pot two contained the next best eight teams, and so on for pots three and four. This was different from previous draws, when only pot one was based on FIFA rankings while the remaining pots were based on geographical considerations. However, teams from the same confederation still were not drawn against each other for the group stage, except that two UEFA teams could be in each group. The pots for the draw are shown below.

 Brazil (1)
 Belgium (2)
 France (3)
 Argentina (4)
 England (5)
 Spain (7)
 Portugal (8)
 Netherlands (10)
 Denmark (11)
 Germany (12)
 Uruguay (13)
 Switzerland (14)
 United States (15)
 Croatia (16)
 Iran (21)
 Japan (23)
 Morocco (24)
 Serbia (25)
 Poland (26)
 South Korea (29)
 Tunisia (35)
 Canada (38)
 Ecuador (46)
 Saudi Arabia (49)
 Ghana (60)
 Peru (22)
 Costa Rica (31)
 Ukraine (27)

## Group Stage

### Group A

Senegal v  Netherlands

Qatar  v  Ecuador

Qatar  v  Senegal

Netherlands  v  Ecuador

Ecuador  v  Senegal

Netherlands  v  Qatar

### Group B

England v  Iran

United States  v  Ukraine

Ukraine  v  Iran

England  v  United States

Ukraine  v  England

Iran  v  United States

### Group C

Argentina  v  Saudi Arabia

Mexico  v  Poland

Poland  v  Saudi Arabia

Argentina  v  Mexico

Poland  v  Argentina

Saudi Arabia  v  Mexico

### Group D

Denmark  v  Tunisia

France  v  Peru

Tunisia  v  Peru

France  v  Denmark

Peru  v  Denmark

Tunisia  v  France

### Group E

Germany  v  Japan

Spain  v  Costa Rica

Japan  v  Costa Rica

Spain  v  Germany

Japan  v  Spain

Costa Rica  v  Germany

### Group F

Morocco  v  Croatia

Belgium  v  Canada

Belgium  v  Morocco

Croatia  v  Canada

Croatia  v  Belgium

Canada  v  Morocco

### Group G

Switzerland  v  Cameroon

Brazil  v  Serbia

Cameroon  v  Serbia

Brazil  v  Switzerland

Serbia  v  Switzerland

Cameroon  v  Brazil

### Group H

Uruguay  v  South Korea

Portugal  v  Ghana

South Korea  v  Ghana

Portugal  v  Uruguay

Ghana  v  Uruguay

South Korea  v  Portugal