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Road to Qatar 2022 mapped out for Europe
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ feels closer for Europe today. After the UEFA preliminary draw took place as a virtual event in Zurich, all 55 teams learned their groups on the road to Qatar 2022.
Reigning World Cup champions France will face Ukraine, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kazakhstan in Group D, while some other standout matches include Italy and neighbours Switzerland, England and Poland, Netherlands and Turkey, and Iceland and Germany.
All teams within a group will play each other twice in a home-and-away format between March 2020 and November 2021. The ten group winners will qualify directly for Qatar 2022, with the ten runners-up advancing to the play-offs.
Besides the ten runners-up from the group stage, the play-offs will also include the two best group winners from the UEFA Nations League 2020/21 overall ranking that did not qualify directly for Qatar 2022 and did not enter the play-offs as runners-up. The 12 teams will be split into three play-off paths, which will feature single-leg knockout matches in March 2022 to determine the last three European representatives in Qatar.
