2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

All 55 FIFA-affiliated national teams from UEFA entered qualification.

Status of Russia

On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency initially handed Russia a four-year ban from all major international sporting events, after RUSADA was found non-compliant for handing over manipulated lab data to investigators.^[3] However, the Russia national team could still enter qualification, as the ban only applies to the World Cup proper as a world championship. The WADA ruling allowed athletes who were not involved in doping or the coverup to compete, but prohibited the use of the Russian flag and anthem at major international sporting events.^[4] An appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was filed,^[5] but WADA's decision was upheld though reduced to a two-year ban.^[6] The CAS ruling also allowed the name "Russia" to be displayed on uniforms if the words "Neutral Athlete" or "Neutral Team" have equal prominence.^[7] If Russia had qualified for the tournament, its players would not have been able to use their country's name alone, flag or anthem at the World Cup, as a result of the nation's two-year ban from world championships and Olympic Games in all sports.^[7]

On 27 February 2022, after the threat of boycotts by the Czech Republic, Poland and Sweden amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine,^[8] FIFA prohibited the Russia national football team from playing home matches in Russia; the team would have to play matches behind closed doors at neutral sites. In addition, the team would have been prohibited from competing under the name, flag, or national anthem of Russia, and had to compete under the name "Football Union of Russia" (RFU).^[9] On 28 February, however, following a recommendation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), FIFA suspended the participation of Russia.^[10][11][12] Poland were subsequently given a walkover for their play-off semi-final match scheduled against Russia.^[13] The Russian Football Union announced they would appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.^[14] Their request for a temporary lift of the ban was rejected on 18 March.^[15]

The qualification format was confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, on 4 December 2019.^[16][17] The qualification would depend, in part, on results from the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League, although to a lesser degree than the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League had on qualification for UEFA Euro 2020. The structure maintained UEFA's usual 'group stage/playoff stage' structure, with only the specific format of the play-offs amended.^[18][19][20]

• Group stage: Five groups of five teams and five groups of six. Group winners qualified for the World Cup finals.
• Play-off stage: 12 teams (ten group runners-up and two best Nations League group winners, based on the Nations League overall ranking, that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group) were drawn into three playoff paths, playing two rounds of single-match playoffs (semi-finals with the seeded teams to host, followed by finals, with the home teams to be drawn). The three path winners qualified for the World Cup finals.

On 4 December 2019, the UEFA Executive Committee initially approved the use of the video assistant referee system for the qualifiers.^[18] However, VAR was not implemented at the start of qualification due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on operational and logistical capabilities.^[21] On 5 August 2021, UEFA announced that the VAR system would be used for the remainder of qualification, starting from September 2021.^[22]

Below is the schedule of the European qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.^[17]

In March 2020, UEFA announced that the two matchdays planned to take place in June 2021 would be moved following the rescheduling of UEFA Euro 2020 to June and July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[23] To allow for the completion of the qualifying group stage in November 2021 as scheduled, UEFA announced on 24 September 2020 that the March and September 2021 windows in the FIFA International Match Calendar were expanded from two to three matchdays.^[24][25] The changes to the International Match Calendar for March and September 2021, which extended each window by one day, were approved by the FIFA Council on 4 December 2020.^[26]

The original schedule of the qualifying group stage, as planned before the pandemic, was as follows.^[17]

Seeding

The draw for the first round (group stage) was held in Zürich, Switzerland, on 7 December 2020, 18:00 CET (UTC+1).^{[27][28][29][30][31][32]} However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the draw occurred as a virtual event without any representatives of member associations present. It was originally planned to be held on 29 November 2020.^[33] On 18 June 2020, the UEFA Executive Committee approved the draw regulations for the qualifying group stage.^[34] The draw was presented by Spanish journalist Cristina Gullón and conducted by FIFA's acting director of competitions, Jaime Yarza.^[35] He was assisted by former footballers Daniele De Rossi and Rafael van der Vaart, who drew the balls from the pots.^[36]

The 55 teams were seeded into six pots based on the November 2020 FIFA World Rankings, after the conclusion of the league phase of the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League. Pots 1 to 5 contained ten teams, while Pot 6 contained five teams. The teams were drawn into ten groups: five groups of five teams (Groups A–E) and five groups of six teams (Groups F–J). The draw started with Pot 1 and was completed with Pot 6, from where a team was drawn and assigned to the first available group in alphabetical order. Therefore, each six-team group contains one team from each of the six pots, while each five-team group contains one team from each of the first five pots.^[37]

The following restrictions were applied with computer assistance:^[25][38][39]

• Nations League finalists: The four teams participating in the 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals (Belgium, France, Italy, and Spain) were guaranteed to be drawn into groups with only five teams (Groups A–E). A group could contain a maximum of one Nations League finalist (this condition was fulfilled automatically since all four teams were in the same pot).
• Prohibited clashes: For political reasons, matches between following pairs of teams were considered prohibited clashes, unable to be drawn into the same group: Kosovo–Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo–Serbia, Kosovo–Russia, Russia–Ukraine. (Additionally, Armenia–Azerbaijan and Gibraltar–Spain were identified as prohibited clashes, but the teams in the former pair were in the same pot for the draw, while the teams in the latter pair were restricted to different-sized groups based on draw pots and conditions.)
• Winter venues: A maximum of two teams whose venues are identified as having high or medium risk of severe winter conditions could be placed in each group: Belarus, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Ukraine.
  • The two "hard winter venues" (Faroe Islands and Iceland) generally cannot host games in March or November, and therefore could not be drawn together; the others shall play as few home matches as possible in March and November.
• Excessive travel: A maximum of one pair of teams identified with excessive travel distance in relation to other countries could be placed in each group:
  • Azerbaijan: with Iceland, Gibraltar, Portugal.
  • Iceland: with Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel.
  • Kazakhstan: with England, France, Gibraltar, Iceland, Malta, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Wales. (Andorra and Faroe Islands were also identified with Kazakhstan for excessive travel distance, but the teams were in the same pot for the draw.)

Teams were allocated to seeding pots as follows (November 2020 FIFA Rankings shown in second column).^[40][41]

Pot 1 Team Rank  Belgium 1  France 2  England 4  Portugal 5  Spain 6  Italy 10  Croatia 11  Denmark 12  Germany 13  Netherlands 14	Pot 2 Team Rank   Switzerland 16  Wales 18  Poland 19  Sweden 20  Austria 23  Ukraine 24  Serbia 30  Turkey 32  Slovakia 33  Romania 37	Pot 3 Team Rank  Russia 39  Hungary 40  Republic of Ireland 42  Czech Republic 43  Norway 44  Northern Ireland 45  Iceland 46  Scotland 48  Greece 53  Finland 54
Pot 4 Team Rank  Bosnia and Herzegovina 55  Slovenia 62  Montenegro 63  North Macedonia 65  Albania 66  Bulgaria 68  Israel 87  Belarus 88  Georgia 89  Luxembourg 98	Pot 5 Team Rank  Armenia 99  Cyprus 100  Faroe Islands 107  Azerbaijan 109  Estonia 109  Kosovo 117  Kazakhstan 122  Lithuania 129  Latvia 136  Andorra 151	Pot 6 Team Rank  Malta 176  Moldova 177  Liechtenstein 181  Gibraltar 195  San Marino 210

Summary

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D	Group E	Group F	Group G	Group H	Group I	Group J
Serbia	Spain	Switzerland	France	Belgium	Denmark	Netherlands	Croatia	England	Germany
Portugal	Sweden	Italy	Ukraine	Wales	Scotland	Turkey	Russia	Poland	North Macedonia
Republic of Ireland	Greece	Northern Ireland	Finland	Czech Republic	Israel	Norway	Slovakia	Albania	Romania
Luxembourg	Georgia	Bulgaria	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Estonia	Austria	Montenegro	Slovenia	Hungary	Armenia
Azerbaijan	Kosovo	Lithuania	Kazakhstan	Belarus	Faroe Islands	Latvia	Cyprus	Andorra	Iceland
—					Moldova	Gibraltar	Malta	San Marino	Liechtenstein

Groups

The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 8 December 2020, the day following the draw.^[42][43][44] Qatar were partnered with the five-team Group A, which enabled the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts to play centralised friendlies against these countries on their "spare" match dates. However, these friendlies did not count in the qualifying group standings.^[45][46]

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Serbia	8	6	2	0	18	9	+9	20	Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup		—	2–2	3–2	4–1	3–1
2	Portugal	8	5	2	1	17	6	+11	17	Advance to play-offs		1–2	—	2–1	5–0	1–0
3	Republic of Ireland	8	2	3	3	11	8	+3	9			1–1	0–0	—	0–1	1–1
4	Luxembourg	8	3	0	5	8	18	−10	9			0–1	1–3	0–3	—	2–1
5	Azerbaijan	8	0	1	7	5	18	−13	1			1–2	0–3	0–3	1–3	—

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	8	6	1	1	15	5	+10	19	Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup		—	1–0	1–1	4–0	3–1
2	Sweden	8	5	0	3	12	6	+6	15	Advance to play-offs		2–1	—	2–0	1–0	3–0
3	Greece	8	2	4	2	8	8	0	10			0–1	2–1	—	1–1	1–1
4	Georgia	8	2	1	5	6	12	−6	7			1–2	2–0	0–2	—	0–1
5	Kosovo	8	1	2	5	5	15	−10	5			0–2	0–3	1–1	1–2	—

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Switzerland	8	5	3	0	15	2	+13	18	Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup		—	0–0	2–0	4–0	1–0
2	Italy	8	4	4	0	13	2	+11	16	Advance to play-offs		1–1	—	2–0	1–1	5–0
3	Northern Ireland	8	2	3	3	6	7	−1	9			0–0	0–0	—	0–0	1–0
4	Bulgaria	8	2	2	4	6	14	−8	8			1–3	0–2	2–1	—	1–0
5	Lithuania	8	1	0	7	4	19	−15	3			0–4	0–2	1–4	3–1	—

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	8	5	3	0	18	3	+15	18	Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup		—	1–1	2–0	1–1	8–0
2	Ukraine	8	2	6	0	11	8	+3	12	Advance to play-offs		1–1	—	1–1	1–1	1–1
3	Finland	8	3	2	3	10	10	0	11			0–2	1–2	—	2–2	1–0
4	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8	1	4	3	9	12	−3	7			0–1	0–2	1–3	—	2–2
5	Kazakhstan	8	0	3	5	5	20	−15	3			0–2	2–2	0–2	0–2	—

Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belgium	8	6	2	0	25	6	+19	20	Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup		—	3–1	3–0	3–1	8–0
2	Wales	8	4	3	1	14	9	+5	15	Advance to play-offs		1–1	—	1–0	0–0	5–1
3	Czech Republic	8	4	2	2	14	9	+5	14	Advance to play-offs via Nations League		1–1	2–2	—	2–0	1–0
4	Estonia	8	1	1	6	9	21	−12	4			2–5	0–1	2–6	—	2–0
5	Belarus	8	1	0	7	7	24	−17	3			0–1	2–3	0–2	4–2	—

Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Denmark	10	9	0	1	30	3	+27	27	Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup		—	2–0	5–0	1–0	3–1	8–0
2	Scotland	10	7	2	1	17	7	+10	23	Advance to play-offs		2–0	—	3–2	2–2	4–0	1–0
3	Israel	10	5	1	4	23	21	+2	16			0–2	1–1	—	5–2	3–2	2–1
4	Austria	10	5	1	4	19	17	+2	16	Advance to play-offs via Nations League		0–4	0–1	4–2	—	3–1	4–1
5	Faroe Islands	10	1	1	8	7	23	−16	4			0–1	0–1	0–4	0–2	—	2–1
6	Moldova	10	0	1	9	5	30	−25	1			0–4	0–2	1–4	0–2	1–1	—

Group G

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands	10	7	2	1	33	8	+25	23	Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup		—	6–1	2–0	4–0	2–0	6–0
2	Turkey	10	6	3	1	27	16	+11	21	Advance to play-offs		4–2	—	1–1	2–2	3–3	6–0
3	Norway	10	5	3	2	15	8	+7	18			1–1	0–3	—	2–0	0–0	5–1
4	Montenegro	10	3	3	4	14	15	−1	12			2–2	1–2	0–1	—	0–0	4–1
5	Latvia	10	2	3	5	11	14	−3	9			0–1	1–2	0–2	1–2	—	3–1
6	Gibraltar	10	0	0	10	4	43	−39	0			0–7	0–3	0–3	0–3	1–3	—

Group H

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	10	7	2	1	21	4	+17	23	Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup		—	1–0	2–2	3–0	1–0	3–0
2	Russia[a]	10	7	1	2	19	6	+13	22	Advance to play-offs		0–0	—	1–0	2–1	6–0	2–0
3	Slovakia	10	3	5	2	17	10	+7	14			0–1	2–1	—	2–2	2–0	2–2
4	Slovenia	10	4	2	4	13	12	+1	14			1–0	1–2	1–1	—	2–1	1–0
5	Cyprus	10	1	2	7	4	21	−17	5			0–3	0–2	0–0	1–0	—	2–2
6	Malta	10	1	2	7	9	30	−21	5			1–7	1–3	0–6	0–4	3–0	—

Group I

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	10	8	2	0	39	3	+36	26	Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup		—	2–1	5–0	1–1	4–0	5–0
2	Poland	10	6	2	2	30	11	+19	20	Advance to play-offs		1–1	—	4–1	1–2	3–0	5–0
3	Albania	10	6	0	4	12	12	0	18			0–2	0–1	—	1–0	1–0	5–0
4	Hungary	10	5	2	3	19	13	+6	17			0–4	3–3	0–1	—	2–1	4–0
5	Andorra	10	2	0	8	8	24	−16	6			0–5	1–4	0–1	1–4	—	2–0
6	San Marino	10	0	0	10	1	46	−45	0			0–10	1–7	0–2	0–3	0–3	—

Group J

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	10	9	0	1	36	4	+32	27	Qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup		—	1–2	2–1	6–0	3–0	9–0
2	North Macedonia	10	5	3	2	23	11	+12	18	Advance to play-offs		0–4	—	0–0	0–0	3–1	5–0
3	Romania	10	5	2	3	13	8	+5	17			0–1	3–2	—	1–0	0–0	2–0
4	Armenia	10	3	3	4	9	20	−11	12			1–4	0–5	3–2	—	2–0	1–1
5	Iceland	10	2	3	5	12	18	−6	9			0–4	2–2	0–2	1–1	—	4–0
6	Liechtenstein	10	0	1	9	2	34	−32	1			0–2	0–4	0–2	0–1	1–4	—

The second round (play-offs) was contested by the ten group runners-up and the best two Nations League group winners, based on the Nations League overall ranking,^[47] who finished outside the top two of their qualifying group. They were separated into three play-off paths, with each path featuring two single-leg semi-finals and one single-leg final. The semi-finals were hosted by the six best-ranked runners-up of the qualifying group stage, while the host of the final was determined by a draw.^[48] The semi-finals were played on 24 March and 1 June, and the finals on 29 March and 5 June 2022. The winners of each path qualified for the World Cup.

Team selection and seeding

Second-placed teams

The ten runners-up from the first round advanced to the play-offs. Based on the results from the qualifying group stage, the six best-ranked teams were seeded, while the bottom four were unseeded in the semi-final draw.

Seed	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Seeding
1	A	Portugal	8	5	2	1	17	6	+11	17	Seeded in semi-final draw
2	F	Scotland	8	5	2	1	14	7	+7	17
3	C	Italy	8	4	4	0	13	2	+11	16
4	H	Russia	8	5	1	2	14	5	+9	16
5	B	Sweden	8	5	0	3	12	6	+6	15
6	E	Wales	8	4	3	1	14	9	+5	15
7	G	Turkey	8	4	3	1	18	16	+2	15	Unseeded in semi-final draw
8	I	Poland	8	4	2	2	18	10	+8	14
9	J	North Macedonia	8	3	3	2	14	11	+3	12
10	D	Ukraine	8	2	6	0	11	8	+3	12

Nations League group winners

The best two Nations League group winners that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group advanced to the play-offs and were unseeded in the semi-final draw.

UNL	Rank	UNL group winner	Qualifying group
A	1	France &	D
	2	Spain &	B
	3	Italy †	C
	4	Belgium &	E
B	17	Wales †	E
	18	Austria ‡	F
	19	Czech Republic ‡	E
	20	Hungary	I
C	33	Slovenia	H
	34	Montenegro	G
	35	Albania	I
	36	Armenia	J
D	49	Gibraltar	G
	50	Faroe Islands	F

Key

•  &  Team qualified directly for World Cup as qualifying group winner
•  †  Team advanced to the play-offs as qualifying group runner-up
•  ‡  Team (in bold) advanced to the play-offs as one of the best two Nations League group winners outside top two of their qualifying group

Draw

Following the completion of the UEFA first round, the twelve teams that advanced to the play-offs were drawn into three paths of four teams on 26 November 2021, 17:00 CET, in Zürich, Switzerland.^{[49][50][51][52][53]} The following procedure was applied in the draw:^[48][54]

• The six seeded teams were allocated to semi-finals 1 to 6 as the host team in the order drawn.
• The six unseeded teams were allocated to semi-finals 1 to 6 as the away team in the order drawn.
• Play-off Path A was formed by semi-finals 1 and 2, with the winners of both semi-finals advancing to final A.
• Play-off Path B was formed by semi-finals 3 and 4, with the winners of both semi-finals advancing to final B.
• Play-off Path C was formed by semi-finals 5 and 6, with the winners of both semi-finals advancing to final C.
• The semi-final winners that host play-off finals A, B and C were decided by a draw.

For political reasons related to the Russo-Ukrainian War, Russia and Ukraine could not be drawn into the same play-off path.^[55]

The six runners-up with the best group stage performance were seeded in the semi-final draw, while the remaining four runners-up and two teams advancing via the Nations League were unseeded. The seedings were as follows:

Pot 1 (seeded) Team Rank  Portugal 1  Scotland 2  Italy 3  Russia 4  Sweden 5  Wales 6

Pot 2 (unseeded) Team Rank  Turkey 7  Poland 8  North Macedonia 9  Ukraine 10  Austria NL–18  Czech Republic NL–19

Path A

Home team	Score	Away team
Semi-finals
Scotland	1–3	Ukraine
Wales	2–1	Austria
Final
Wales	1–0	Ukraine

Path B

Home team	Score	Away team
Semi-finals
Russia	w/o[note 2]	Poland
Sweden	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Czech Republic
Final
Poland	2–0	Sweden

Path C

Home team	Score	Away team
Semi-finals
Italy	0–1	North Macedonia
Portugal	3–1	Turkey
Final
Portugal	2–0	North Macedonia

The following 13 teams from UEFA qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
Germany	Group J winners	11 October 2021	19 (1934, 1938, 19542, 19582, 19622, 19662, 19702, 19742, 19782, 19822, 19862, 19902, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)
Denmark	Group F winners	12 October 2021	5 (1986, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2018)
France	Group D winners	13 November 2021	15 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)
Belgium	Group E winners	13 November 2021	13 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2014, 2018)
Croatia	Group H winners	14 November 2021	5 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2018)
Spain	Group B winners	14 November 2021	15 (1934, 1950, 1962, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)
Serbia	Group A winners	14 November 2021	12 (19303, 19503, 19543, 19583, 19623, 19743, 19823, 19903, 19983, 20063, 2010, 2018)
England	Group I winners	15 November 2021	15 (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)
Switzerland	Group C winners	15 November 2021	11 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1994, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)
Netherlands	Group G winners	16 November 2021	10 (1934, 1938, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010, 2014)
Portugal	Play-offs Path C winners	29 March 2022	7 (1966, 1986, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)
Poland	Play-offs Path B winners	29 March 2022	8 (1938, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 2002, 2006, 2018)
Wales	Play-offs Path A winners	5 June 2022	1 (1958)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

² Competed as West Germany. A separate team for East Germany also participated in qualifications during this time, having only qualified in 1974.

³ From 1930 to 1998, Serbia competed as Yugoslavia, while in 2006 as Serbia and Montenegro.

There were 781 goals scored in 258 matches, for an average of 3.03 goals per match.

12 goals

9 goals

8 goals

6 goals

Below are full goalscorer lists for all groups and the play-off rounds:

• Official FIFA World Cup website
• European 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, FIFA.com
• European Qualifiers, UEFA.com