Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal side and European Champions Italy will have to go through the play-off route to qualify for next year’s World Cup. The two European sides finished second in their group following disappointing results in their final group stage games.
The Portuguese, who needed a draw to book their tickets to Portugal, lost thanks to a late goal by Serbian forward Aleksandar Mitrovic. The Serbians topped Group A and will now be in next year’s World Cup in Qatar.
Italy, meanwhile, couldn’t get past Northern Ireland, drawing their game 0-0. Switzerland topped Group C of the European qualifiers with a resounding 4-0 win over Bulgaria.
Italy and Portugal will now join 10 other European teams to compete for the final three European slots for the 2022 World Cup. Both sides, along with four other seeded teams, will face unseeded teams in the play-off qualifiers. The playoff qualifiers will comprise three separate brackets, with seeded and unseeded teams playing with each other, with the winners going to the final of each of the brackets.
10 teams from UEFA have qualified for the Qatar World Cup following the end of the qualifiers. Germany, Denmark, defending champions France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland, and the Netherlands have qualified for the World Cup from Europe.
Brazil and Argentina have qualified for the South American CONMEBOL region. Two more sides from South America will join them. At the same time, the fifth-placed team in the group will progress to the inter-confederation play-offs, where one team from the Asian group, one from the North, Central and Caribbean region, and one from the Oceania region will compete for two World Cup spots.
Hosts Qatar have been given direct entry to the World Cup, which will be the first time they will compete in the global event. They will be joined by four teams from the Asian region, with Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Korea, and Japan the favorites to progress.
The five teams from Africa to compete in next year’s World Cup will be decided next year when ten teams will play two-legged ties to progress to the World Cup.
The top three teams from the Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) will qualify to the World Cup, with Canada, the United States of America, and Mexico currently holding those spots. But, minnows Panama are level on points with Mexico and could spring a surprise. Canada, who has never played in the World Cup, is currently in a solid position to qualify after 8 games of the qualifying stage.
