The World Cup is less than 100 days away and Uefa will have 13 nations trying to keep the trophy in Europe.
The past four World Cup winners have hailed from Europe, with France, Germany, Spain and Italy all taking the crown since Brazil’s 2002 victory – but only three of those will be in Qatar.
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What’s happened in qualifying?
Qualification from Uefa started in March 2021, with 55 nations joining the group stage. These nations were put into 10 groups with seedings based on the Fifa world rankings at the time.
The winners of each group qualified automatically for the World Cup, while the 10 runners-up advanced to the second round. To make up our final group of 12 for the second round, those 10 sides have been joined by the two best ranked teams from the Nations League that have yet to qualify.
The 12 nations were split into three groups of four, with each group contesting a mini knockout tournament to determine who will clinch the final three Uefa berths for the Qatar finals.
How do things look now?
The second round of the qualification process mentioned above took place in late March. The mini tournament format will crown three winners — one from each Path — who will advance to the World Cup.
Poland and Portugal ultimately sealed progression via the play-offs, but we had to wait until June to find out the winner of Path A,Wales.
Below are the matches that took place.
Path A
| Semi-finals | Date |
|---|---|
| Scotland 1-3 Ukraine | June 1, 2022 |
| Wales 2-1 Austria | March 24, 2022 |
| Final | |
| Wales 1-0 Ukraine | June 5, 2022 |
Path B
| Semi-finals | Date |
|---|---|
| Russia vs Poland* | N/A |
| Sweden 1-0 Czech Republic (AET) | March 24, 2022 |
| Final | |
| Poland 2-0 Sweden | March 29, 2022 |
*Poland awarded a bye due to Russia’s suspension from the competition
Path C
| Semi-finals | Date |
|---|---|
| Italy 0-1 North Macedonia | March 24, 2022 |
| Portugal 3-1 Turkey | March 24, 2022 |
| Final | |
| North Macedonia 0-2 Portugal | March 29, 2022 |
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Who do the European teams face at the World Cup?
With 13 nations, there is European interest in all eight World Cup groups and five have more than one European team in: England and Wales face off as do France and Denmark, Spain and Germany, Belgium and Croatia and Serbia and Switzerland.
- Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands
- Group B: England, Iran, United States, Wales
- Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
- Group D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia
- Group E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan
- Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
- Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
- Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea
READ MORE:
- Conmebol 2022 World Cup qualifiers: Which South American national teams made Qatar?
- Caf 2022 World Cup qualifiers: Which African national teams made Qatar?
- AFC 2022 World Cup qualifiers: Which national teams made Qatar?
- Concacaf 2022 World Cup qualifiers: Which North American national teams made Qatar?