December 7, 2020 – Croatia draws Slovenia, Slovakia, Russia, Cyprus, and Malta in Group H of the European qualifications for the 2022 World Cup.
Croatia took part in the European qualification draw for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at 6 pm tonight in Zurich. Fifty-five national teams will participate in the European qualifiers, divided into 10 groups – five groups with five national teams and five groups with six teams each.
The winners of each group will go directly to the World Cup, and the ten runners-up and the two teams from the Nations League will play additional qualifications.
The 2018 World Cup finalists were placed into the pot of the strongest national teams. Thus, Croatia had no chance of being drawn into a group with Belgium, France, England, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands.
The qualifying cycle for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will run from March to November 2021, and the teams will play each team in their group at home and away. The ten group winners will qualify directly for the World Cup, and the ten runners-up will try to do the same in the playoffs, which will be played from March 24 to 29, 2022.
In addition to the ten runners-up from the group stage, the playoffs will also include the two best national teams in the overall standings of the UEFA Nations League for the 2020/2021 season, which will not directly qualify for the World Cup, nor will they win the playoffs as the second-placed teams in the group. Twelve teams in the playoffs will be divided into three “pots” and will fight for the three remaining European places at the World Cup in March 2022.
The 2022 World Cup will be held from November 21 to December 18, 2022, in five Qatari cities (Doha, Lusail, Al Khor, Al Wakrah, Al Rayyan).
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