Qatar: Teams That Have Qualified For 2022 FIFA World Cup

The World Cup heads to Qatar in 2022 with 32 teams set to battle it out for glory in the Middle East. Some have already qualified.

Qatar
As the host nation, Qatar are assured of their place at the finals without having to go through qualification and will be making their World Cup debut.

In the previous 21 tournaments, only South Africa in 2010 have failed to reach at least the knockout stages as a host nation — though Qatar will have their work cut out to avoid a similar fate judging on official rankings.

They can at least take heart from their against-the-odds AFC Asian Cup win in 2019, overcoming the likes of South Korea and Japan to lift the trophy in one of football’s most surprising upsets of recent years.

Germany
Germany became the first team to officially qualify for the World Cup, securing top spot in Group J of the European section with a 4-0 victory over North Macedonia in October 2021.

Seven wins from their opening eight clashes proved to be enough for Die Mannschaft to book their place in Qatar, where they will look to right the wrongs of a disastrous campaign at Russia 2018 which saw them exit at the group stage.

Former Bayern Munich boss Hansi Flick has replaced the long-serving Joachim Low in the dugout after their last 16 exit at Euro 2020 and will be hoping to lead his nation to a fifth Jules Rimet Trophy.

Denmark
Surprise semi-finalists at Euro 2020, Denmark carried their fine form into World Cup qualifying and sealed their place in the tournament with a 1-0 home win over Austria in October 2021.

A perfect run of eight victories put the Danes out of the reach of Scotland and Israel with two matches to spare — Kasper Hjulmand’s side scoring 27 times and not conceding a single goal in that run.

Though this will only be a sixth World Cup appearance in the nation’s history, Denmark have been present at four of the last six tournaments and will hope to improve on their sole run to the quarter-final stage in 1998.

Brazil
A 1-0 win against Colombia in November 2021 saw Brazil confirmed as the first side to progress from South America’s CONMEBOL qualifying section.

Tite’s troops booked their spot in Qatar by triumphing in 11 of their opening 12 qualifying encounters and drawing the other, doing so in the fashion of a team firmly on the rise.

Having ruled the world on a record five occasions, the Brazilians would dearly love to land a first title since 2002.

France
Defending champions France booked their spot in the finals with an emphatic 8-0 win over Kazakhstan in mid-November.

That emphatic victory, in which Kylian Mbappe scored four goals, saw an unbeaten Les Bleus move four points clear of Group D rivals Finland with one game to play.

Belgium
Belgium survived a late scare to see off Estonia 3-1 and join the early qualifiers for Qatar.

If they can get Romelu Lukaku fit and firing, the Red Devils will fancy their chances once again with an ageing golden generation looking to live up to the hype.

Croatia
Croatia leapfrogged opponents Russia to earn their spot in Qatar after a comical own-goal gave them a 1-0 win in torrential conditions.

The golden generation that finished as runners-up of 2018 maybe fading, but they will still rely on greats such as Luka Modric and Ivan Perisic in 2022.

Spain
Spain needed just a point against Sweden to book their spot in Qatar, but they got all three thanks to Alvaro Morata’s late strike which condemned the Scandinavians to the play-offs.

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Luis Enrique’s side are certainly building for the future, but if Euro 2020 and Tokyo 2020 are anything to go by, we could be seeing a lot of La Roja in Doha.

Serbia
Serbia qualified the hard way, with a comeback victory against Portugal in Lisbon securing their spot next December.

Aleksandar Mitrovic made amends for the penalty miss that saw the Eagles miss out on Euro 2020 by scoring the 90th-minute goal that sent them to Qatar.

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