2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)


The European section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification will act as qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Qatar, for national teams that are members of the Union of European Football Associations. A total of 13 slots in the final tournament are available for UEFA teams.

Entrants

All 55 FIFA-affiliated national teams from UEFA will enter qualification. On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency handed Russia a four-year ban from all major sporting events, after RUSADA was found non-compliant for handing over manipulating lab data to investigators. However, the Russia national team could still enter qualification, as the ban only applies to the final tournament to decide the world champions. If Russia were to qualify, Russian footballers could still potentially compete at the tournament, pending a decision from FIFA. However, a team representing Russia, which uses the Russian flag and anthem, cannot participate under the WADA decision. The decision is pending appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Format

The qualification format was confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting in Nyon, Switzerland on 4 December 2019, pending validation from FIFA. The qualification will depend, in part, on results from the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League, although to a lesser degree than UEFA Euro 2020. The structure will maintain UEFA's usual 'group stage/playoff stage' structure, with only the specific format of the play-offs amended.
The UEFA Executive Committee also approved the use of the video assistant referee system for the qualifiers, subject to the approval of FIFA.

Schedule

Below is the schedule of the European qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The matchdays planned to take place in June 2021 will be moved following the rescheduling of UEFA Euro 2020 to June and July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To allow for the completion of the qualifying group stage in November 2021 as scheduled, some windows in the FIFA International Match Calendar may be expanded to include three matchdays.
StageMatchdayDates
Qualifying group stageMatchday [|1]25–27 March 2021
Qualifying group stageMatchday 228–30 March 2021
Qualifying group stageMatchday 3TBD
Qualifying group stageMatchday 4TBD
Qualifying group stageMatchday 52–4 September 2021
Qualifying group stageMatchday 65–7 September 2021
Qualifying group stageMatchday 77–9 October 2021
Qualifying group stageMatchday 810–12 October 2021
Qualifying group stageMatchday 911–13 November 2021
Qualifying group stageMatchday 1014–16 November 2021
Play-offsSemi-finals24–25 March 2022
Play-offsFinals28–29 March 2022

First round

Draw

The draw for the first round was originally planned to be held on 29 November 2020, though the date is subject to further confirmation by UEFA. On 18 June 2020, the UEFA Executive Committee approved the draw regulations for the qualifying group stage, subject to confirmation by FIFA. The 55 teams will be seeded into six pots based on the FIFA World Rankings of November 2020, after the conclusion of the league phase of the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League. Pots 1 to 5 will contain ten teams, while Pot 6 will contain five teams. The teams will be drawn into ten groups: five groups of five teams and five groups of six teams. The draw will start with Pot 1 and complete with Pot 6, from where a team will be drawn and assigned to the first available group in alphabetical order. Therefore, each six-team group will contain one team from each of the six pots, while each five-team group will contain one team from each of the first five pots.
The following restrictions will be applied with computer assistance:

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Group I

Group J

Second round

The second round will be contested by the ten group runners-up and the best two Nations League group winners, based on the Nations League overall ranking, that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group. They will be separated into three play-off paths, with each path featuring two single-leg semi-finals and one single-leg final. The home teams will be determined by a draw. The semi-finals will be played on 24–25 March, and the finals on 28–29 March 2022. The winners of each path will qualify for the World Cup.

Qualified teams

The following 13 teams from UEFA qualified for the final tournament.
TeamQualified asQualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA World Cup1