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2022 Qualifiers - Other Games Thread (AFC & beyond)
2022 World Cup play-off draw
Zurich - Friday 26 November 2021, 17:00 - your local time
The European FIFA World Cup play-off draw will be held in Zurich on Friday 26 November 2021.
Friday's draw pots
Friday's draw pots
PA Images via Getty Images
The draw to determine the final European encounters in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 preliminary competition will be held in Zurich, Switzerland on Friday 26 November 2021 at 17:00 CET.
Who's involved in the draw?
Pot 1: Italy, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, Wales
Pot 2: Austria, Czech Republic, North Macedonia, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine
The three European slots for the FIFA World Cup 2022 that are not allocated at the end of the preliminary competition's group stage will be decided through a 12-team play-off tournament.
The ten runners-up from the group stage of European qualifying are joined by two additional teams selected on the basis of the overall UEFA Nations League 2020/21 rankings: Austria and Czech Republic.
Specifically, these spots went to the two best-ranked UEFA Nations League group winners that neither qualified directly for the final tournament as European qualifying group winners, nor already entered the play offs as European qualifying group runners-up.
Highlights: Scotland 2-0 Denmark
Highlights: Scotland 2-0 Denmark
How the draw works
The six best-ranked runners-up from the group stage of European qualifying are allocated to Pot 1 and will play their play-off semi-final at home. The remaining six teams will be allocated to Pot 2.
To determine the six best runners-up allocated to Pot 1, firstly the results of the group runners-up against the teams in sixth place (for groups with six teams) were discarded and then the following criteria applied in the order given:
a. higher number of points
b. superior goal difference
c. higher number of goals scored
d. higher number of away goals scored
e. higher number of wins
f. higher number of away wins
g. lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received by players and team officials (red card = three points, yellow card = one point, sending-off for two yellow cards in one match = three points)
h. access list for the UEFA Nations League 2020/21 (see Annex C of the 20/21 regulations)
The draw will start by allocating the six best-ranked teams, i.e. the teams from Pot 1, to semi-finals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively as a home team.
The first team drawn will occupy the home position in semi-final 1, the second team drawn in semi-final 2 and so on until the pot is emptied.
The draw will then proceed to allocate teams from Pot 2 to semi-final pairings one by one. The first team drawn from Pot 2 will occupy the away position in semi-final 1, the second team drawn in semi-final 2 and so on until all semi-final pairings are determined.
Semi-finals 1 and 2 belong to the Play-off path A, semi-finals 3 and 4 form path B and semi-finals 5 and 6 constitute path C. To determine which semi-final winner will play at home in the final, an additional draw will be held for each path.
Do any constraints apply?
The "prohibited team clash" rule means that certain nations, for example Ukraine and Russia, cannot be drawn together.
When do the play-offs take place?
Play-off semi-finals: Thursday 24 March 2022
Play-off finals: Tuesday 29 March 2022
UEFA will confirm the kick-off times after the draw.
When is the 2022 World Cup?
The 22nd finals in Qatar will be the first World Cup not held in May, June or July; the tournament is instead scheduled for a reduced timeframe between 21 November and 18 December. The final draw is expected to be held in April 2022.
and the rest we don't care. This way we know that atleast 2 (if lucky 3 ) of the top ranked teams ahead of us won't make it giving us greater chance of getting that sexy pot 2 . Also either uruguay or colombia (if not 2) won't make it . So thats like 3 teams gone .
^australia actually left OFC Because they thought the intercontinental qualifier playoff was more difficult. They felt that having their WC qualification coming down to a single intercontinental playoff was too high stakes. I think the final straw was their shock loss against TM in the 1997 intercontinental playoff.
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