At the end of November, the European play-offs for the World Cup 2022 in Qatar will be drawn Who is in it? And how does the draw work? The most important questions and answers
After the end of the qualifying group matches in Europe, twelve teams will compete in a play-off tournament for the remaining three tickets to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Who is in the play-offs?
The ten group runners-up and the two best group winners of the UEFA Nations League 2020/21who did not finish in one of the top two places in their World Cup qualifying group qualify for the play-offs.
Already safe in the play-offs are North Macedonia, Scotland, Russia, Portugal and Sweden.
Still in with a chance of finishing second in the group are Finland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Wales, with the Czech Republic or Wales guaranteed a place in the play-offs because of their Nations League ranking.
Qualified for the play-offs via the Nations League is Austria.
When is the draw for the Play-offs?
The draw for the European World Cup Qualifiers play-offs will take place on Friday 26 November 2021 (5pm) in Zurich.
How do the play-offs work?
The twelve teams will play three play-off legs (A, B and C), each with two semi-finals and one final (without a second leg). The winners of these three paths qualify for the World Cup.
What is the draw for the play-offs?
The six best group runners-up are placed in pot 1 and thus have home rights in the semi-finals. The remaining six nations will be placed in pot 2.
First, the teams in pot 1 will be assigned as home teams to semi-finals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the draw.
So the team drawn first will host semi-final number 1, the team drawn after that will host semi-final number 2 and so on. It is the same with the teams from pot number 2.
Semi-finals number 1 and 2 belong to play-off path A, semi-finals number 3 and 4 to play-off path B and semi-finals 5 and 6 to play-off path C.
Path A:
Semi-final 1: Team Pot 1 – Team Pot 2
Semi-Final 2: Team Pot 1 – Team Pot 2
Path B:
Semi-final 3: Team Pot 1 – Team Pot 2
Semi-Final 4: Team Pot 1 – Team Pot 2
Path C:
Semi-final 5: Team Pot 1 – Team Pot 2
Semi-final 6: Team Pot 1 – Team Pot 2
Depending on the twelve teams, it will be decided if there are any restrictions, for example, Ukraine and Russia would not be drawn together.
Where to watch the play-offs?
DAZN will broadcast all six semi-finals and the three finals – a total of nine play-off matches – live and exclusively.
When are the Play-offs?
Play-off semi-finals: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Play-off Finals: Tuesday, 29 March 2022
