World Cup 2022 draw All eyes on Doha as fates set to be revealed
over 3 years in The Irish Times
The football world gathered in the Qatari capital on Friday in expectant anticipation of the draw for the World Cup finals.
National team coaches, World Cup winning players, Qatari dignitaries and football officials from across the globe will discover the group stage match-ups during a ceremony presented by British actor Idris Elba and broadcaster Reshmin Chowdhury.
The tournament will run from November 21st to December 18th – the first time soccer’s top prize has been competed for in the Middle East.
Fans gathered outside the Doha Exhibition and Conference Centre hoping for a glimpse of some of the big names in attendance, which included former champions such as Germany’s Lothar Matthaus, Italian Alessandro Del Piero and Brazilian Cafu.
Hundreds of reporters and broadcast crews from all over the world set up camp inside and around the venue as dusk approached and the searing daytime temperatures eased.
Twenty-nine of the 32 places have been filled.
Hosts: Qatar. Africa: Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia. Asia: Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea. Europe: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland. North America: Canada, Mexico, USA. South America: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay.
The final European berth is due to be decided in June with Scotland facing Ukraine in a playoff semi-final and the winners taking on Wales. Scotland’s manager, Steve Clarke, has suggested those games could be subject to further delay.
The other two places will go to the winners of intercontinental playoffs, contested on June 13-14 in Qatar, with Costa Rica facing New Zealand and Peru taking on the UAE or Australia, who first play the Asian confederation playoff in Doha on June 7th.
The teams are divided into four pots based on the Fifa rankings published on Thursday. Pot 1 comprises Qatar as hosts and the seven highest-ranked qualified teams. Pot 2 has the next eight highest-ranked qualified teams, Pot 3 the eight highest-qualified after that, and Pot 4 the five best-ranked teams after that and placeholders representing the two winners of the intercontinental play-offs and the remaining European play-off winner.
Pot 1 Qatar, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain, Portugal. Pot 2 Mexico, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland, USA, Croatia. Pot 3 Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea, Tunisia. Pot 4 Cameroon, Canada, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Wales/Scotland/Ukraine, Costa Rica/New Zealand, Peru/UAE/Australia.
Each World Cup group will contain one team from each pot. First each team in Pot 1 will be allocated a group, then each team in Pots 2, 3 and 4 to create eight groups of four. Each pot will be emptied before the next pot is drawn. Qatar will be allocated position A1 but in every other case a ball will be drawn from a team pot, then a ball drawn from a group pot to determine where they will be placed.
– Reuters/Guardian