Regional tournaments in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, North/Central America and Oceania/Australia determine the best teams from those areas that go onto the FIFA World Cup. The qualifying process can take anywhere from two to three years because teams in each region play each other in home-and-away matches.
How is the number of Places in the World Cup determined?
For each World Cup, FIFA decides beforehand the number of places in the finals allocated to each of the zones, based on the numbers and relative strengths of the confederations' teams. The hosts receive automatic berths, and until 2002, so did the defending champions.
How does the FIFA FIFA World Cup work?
Each group plays a round-robin schedule, with no extra time played. Teams earn three points for a win, one point for a draw and no points for a loss and the top two teams in each group advance to a 16-team knockout stage.
How did each country qualify for the FIFA World Cup?
Each nation qualified through its respective confederation (Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America and North, Central America and Caribbean). Concacaf had the most qualifying rounds with five; UEFA had the fewest with two.
How is FIFA ranking determined?
So at its most basic, FIFA ranking is determined by the following: 12 month average + previous 36 month average . FIFA has devised a formula for calculating the number of points a team can gain from a single match ( P ), which is dependent on the following factors:
How are teams selected for the World Cup?
The top two teams of each group qualified for the World Cup, and the two third-placed teams advanced to the fourth round. Fourth round: Two third-placed teams in each third round group played against each other in a single match, the winners advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Do you automatically qualify for the World Cup if you host it?
Since the first FIFA World Cup in 1930, the host nation has qualified for the tournament automatically.
How does FIFA choose World Cup host?
The system evolved so that the host country is now chosen in a vote by FIFA's Congress. This is done under an exhaustive ballot system. The decision is currently made roughly seven years in advance of the tournament, though the hosts for the 2022 tournament were chosen at the same time as those for the 2018 tournament.
How many teams qualify for World Cup from each group?
Group stage Teams were split into ten groups of five or six (the four teams who reached the 2021 UEFA Nations League finals – Belgium, France, Italy, Spain – were in the smaller groups). The ten group winners qualified for the World Cup.
Why are Qatar in World Cup qualifiers?
UEFA invited the Qatar national team – the reigning champions of Asia – to prepare for the 2022 World Cup. Qatar joined Group A along with Portugal, Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan and played their 'home' matches in Europe in order to allow short travel times for their opponents.
How many teams qualify for World Cup from each continent?
In all, 13 teams from Europe qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2022. On the other hand, six teams from Asia, five from Africa, four each from North America and South America made it to the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
Who will host 2026 FIFA World Cup?
Iconic NYC landmarks lit up with messages of celebration. The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) announced that New York and New Jersey have been selected as hosts for the 2026 FIFA World Cup following the cities' joint bid for the job.
How does the bidding process work for the world Cup?
The multiple round exhaustive ballot system was used to determine the tournament host. All eligible members of the FIFA Executive Committee had one vote. The candidate country that received the fewest votes in each round was eliminated until a single candidate was chosen by the majority.
Will India ever host FIFA World Cup?
A final decision on who will host those two tournaments will be taken in December 2010. So there is no chance whatsoever for us to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. And under the given circumstances it would be too early for us.
Who participates in the World Cup?
Overall team recordsRankTeamPart1Brazil212Germany193Italy184Argentina1727 more rows
How many teams make it to the World Cup?
32 nationsTaking place quadrennially, the FIFA Men's World Cup™ sees 32 nations compete against each other for the prize.
How many teams from Conmebol go to World Cup?
4.5 PLACESSOUTH AMERICA (CONMEBOL 4.5 PLACES) As in recent qualifying competitions, all 10 nations play each other home and away. The top four nations qualify directly to the finals. The fifth-place team will go into an intercontinental playoff against the winners of the AFC playoff, Australia, on June 13.
How many places are there in the World Cup?
Currently, 32 places are available in the final tournament until 2022. One of them is reserved for the host nation, but if two or more nations co-host the competition, each is awarded a place.
What is the FIFA World Cup qualification?
The FIFA World Cup qualification is the process that a national association football team goes through to qualify for the final tournament of the FIFA World Cup. The qualification reduces the large field of eligible entrants from 211 to just 32 for the finals as of the 2022 edition (to be expanded to 48 from 2026 onwards).
How many teams will be eliminated from the 2023 World Cup?
A total of 24 teams eliminated from World Cup qualification in the second round compete in the third round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification (which is separate from the third round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification), where they will be divided into six groups of four teams and compete for the remaining slots of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.
What are the FIFA qualifying zones?
Qualifying tournaments are held within FIFA 's six continental zones and are organized by their respective confederations: AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe). For each World Cup, FIFA decides beforehand the number of places in ...
How many teams are in the first round of FIFA 2020?
The first round will have the remaining 29 teams divided into six groups of five teams.
How many matches are considered first appearances?
Only teams that played at least one match are considered for the purposes of first appearance. Teams that withdrew prior to the qualification, or that qualified to the World Cup by walkover due to other teams' withdrawals, are not considered.
How many teams are in the CAF?
The CAF qualification process reverted to the format used for the 2014 qualification. It began with one preliminary round to narrow the field of 28 entrants to 14 teams in September 2019. The group stage consists of 10 groups of four, with the group winners advancing to the two-legged, home-and-away third round.
How many teams can qualify for the FIFA World Cup?
Since 1998, 32 teams can qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals at the end of a two-year-long qualification process involving the 211 men's national football teams affiliated to FIFA.
What is the format for the FIFA World Cup qualification process?
The qualification process for the FIFA World Cup is held either in a league (home and away round-robin fixtures) or a knockout format (home and away two-legged fixtures).
How many teams qualify for the World Cup from Europe?
Thirteen teams from UEFA's 55 FIFA-affiliated members can qualify for the World Cup finals. The European qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup is a one-year affair that started in March 2021 and will conclude in March 2022.
How many teams qualify for the World Cup from Africa?
Five teams from CAF's 54 FIFA-affiliated members can qualify for the World Cup finals. The African qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup started in September 2019 and will conclude in March 2022.
How many teams qualify for the World Cup from Asia?
4.5 teams (four teams and one qualifier from the intercontinental play-off) from AFC's 46 FIFA-affiliated members can qualify for the World Cup finals. The AFC qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup began in June 2019 and will conclude in June 2022.
How many teams qualify for the World Cup from CONCACAF?
3.5 teams (three teams and one qualifier from the intercontinental play-off) from CONCACAF's 35 FIFA-affiliated members can qualify for the World Cup finals. The CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup began in March 2021 and will conclude in June 2022.
How many teams qualify for the World Cup from CONMEBOL?
4.5 teams (four teams and one qualifier from the intercontinental play-off) from CONMEBOL's 10 FIFA-affiliated members can qualify for the World Cup finals. The CONMEBOL qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup began in October 2020 and will conclude in March 2022.
How many groups of five are there in FIFA 2021?
The format had to be reworked again, as follows: Round One: Nations ranked 6-35 in the FIFA World Ranking were drawn into six groups of five. Each team played every other team in their group only once, in March and June 2021. The six group winners progressed.
When will the 2022 World Cup start?
Qualifying for the 2022 World Cup began on June 6, 2019, when minor nations from the Asian confederation played their first round of matches. Mongolia's Norjmoogiin Tsedenbal scored the very first goal in qualifying in a 2-0 win over Brunei Darussalam.
Which countries advanced to the 2023 Asian Cup?
Round Two: The six winners from the first round joined the other 34 Asian nations, drawn into eight groups of five teams -- also played as qualifiers for the 2023 Asian Cup finals (for this reason World Cup hosts Qatar will take part).
Why is the World Cup important?
More importantly, the World Cup brings together all the nations of the world into an egalitarian competition where the best team wins. While money helps organize and train teams, the World Cup is all about who has the best players, not who can afford the best players like in club soccer.
How many referees are there in FIFA?
FIFA selected 36 referees and 63 assistant referees representing each of the FIFA confederations. Six head referees were chosen from each of the Asia, Africa and Concacaf federations, two from Oceania and 10 from Europe. The U.S. is the only country represented by two head referees (but no soccer team).
How many stadiums are there in the World Cup?
World Cup matches will be played in 12 stadiums spread across 11 cities (two stadiums are in Moscow). A complete list and photos of the World Cup stadiums can be found here . The largest stadium is Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, which holds 81,000. The smallest is Kaliningrad Stadium, which holds 35,212.
Why do referees add time?
But because the referee never stops the clock during a match for things such as injuries, substitutions, goals and the ball being out of play , the referees add time at the end of the first and second halves.
How many players are allowed on the pitch at a time?
While 11 players are allowed on the pitch at one time, each nation is allowed to bring 23 players to the tournament, three of which must be goalkeepers. These players can be changed up to 24 hours before the team’s first match in case of injury, but are typically decided in the month before the tournament.
What are the tiebreakers in soccer?
Tie-breakers, if necessary, will be as follows: 1) points obtained, 2) goal difference, 3) number of goals scored.
When did the World Cup start?
When the World Cup started in 1930 , it was difficult for national teams to traverse the world for a tournament, so it made sense to space the events out. Also, it’s a huge undertaking for a country to host a 32-team tournament. Read more about why here.
Why is the FIFA World Ranking important?
The FIFA world ranking is an important component of world football, but it remains a mystery to many fans and probably even a few within the game. It is intertwined with a number of FIFA competitions, meaning that it has a direct bearing on the futures of national teams. However, it has proven controversial and the methods used have been changed on ...
What is the FIFA World Ranking?
As the name suggests, the FIFA world ranking is a method of ranking national teams used by football's world governing body. The ranking applies to FIFA's 211 member associations. FIFA publishes an updated ranking each month, taking into account FIFA-recognised games that have been played during the course of the previous month.
Which country has the longest ranking in FIFA?
During that time, Brazil have held top spot for the longest overall period.
When is the 2018 World Cup draw?
The same procedure (use of October ranking) will be applied to the draw for the 2018 World Cup, which takes place on December 1, 2017. As well as the World Cup itself, the seeding for this year's UEFA qualifying play-off draw is based on the October ranking, which will be announced a day before the draw on October 16.
Will FIFA ever review the ranking system?
Indeed, FIFA has indicated that it will once again review the ranking system after the 2018 World Cup, meaning that more changes could be in store. In the meantime, Goal has broken down how the current model works, with the World Cup draw looming on the horizon.
Overview
Qualification tournament rules
Qualification tournaments generally consist of a number of stages, made up of groups or knock-out ties.
In all group tournaments, three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. FIFA has set the order of the tie-breakers for teams that finish level on points:
1. goal difference in all group matches
History
Over many years, the World Cup's qualification has evolved, from having no qualification at all in 1930, when the tournament was invitational and only 13 teams entered, to the current three-year process. The first World Cup qualifying match was played on 11 June 1933 when Sweden defeated Estonia 6–2 in Stockholm. The first ever goal in a World Cup qualifying match was scored 7 minutes into the game: it was scored according to some sources by Swedish captain K…
See also
• National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup
• UEFA European Championship qualifying
• AFC Asian Cup qualification
• FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
External links
• History of the FIFA World Cup preliminary competition (by year). Published by FIFA in November 2009; archived from the original by Wayback Machine on 23 October 2013.
• FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition Statistics (from FIFA.com)
• FIFA World Cup Preliminary History (from FIFA.com)
Europe
South America
- • South American qualifying home page Qualified teams: Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay Playoff team: Peru As in recent qualifying competitions, all 10 nations play each other home and away. The top four nations qualify directly to the finals. The fifth-place team will go into an intercontinental playoff against the winners of the AFC playoff, Australia, on June 13. The first fo…
North America, Central America, Caribbean
- • CONCACAF qualifying home page Qualified teams: Canada, Mexico, United States Playoff team: Costa Rica CONCACAF has 35 FIFA-affiliated nations, most of them very minor in world football. A revamped qualification process was confirmed for the 2022 edition, which was due to begin in September 2020 and run to September 2021. However, this was abandoned due to the coronavir…
Africa
- • African qualifying home page Qualified teams: Cameroon, Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, Tunisia There are 54 FIFA-affiliated nations. Round One: The 28 lowest ranked nations played two-legged ties, played in September 2019, with the full list of results available here. Round Two: The 14 winners from the first round were joined by the other 26 African nations. Those 40 teams were s…
Asia
- • Asia qualifying home page Qualified teams: IR Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan Playoff team: Australia The first two rounds of qualifying were completed exactly the same as four years ago. Round One: The 12 lowest ranked nations played two-legged ties in June 2019. Guam, Macau, Mongolia, Timor-Leste, Bangladesh and Cambodia advanced. Round Two: The six winne…
Oceania
- • Oceania qualifying home page Nine of the 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams were due to take part in qualifying, which will finally be played March 17-30, 2022, in Qatar. Round One: Tonga and Cook Islands -- the two lowest-ranked OFC teams in the FIFA World Ranking -- were due to play a single elimination match. However, Tonga withdrew and Cook Islands received a bye. Round Two: Tea…