Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Thursday, Jul 23, 2026

What you need to know about the Qatar World Cup draw

What you need to know about the Qatar World Cup draw

Twenty-nine participants, including the hosts, have already been confirmed, while the remaining three will be finalised by June this year.

The final draw for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will take place in Doha on Friday.

The 32-team football event will kick off in Qatar on November 21, with the final taking place on December 18.

Twenty-nine participants, including the hosts, have already been confirmed, while the remaining three will be finalised by June this year.

Which teams have already qualified for the World Cup?


*  Argentina
*  Belgium
*  Brazil
*  Cameroon
*  Canada
*  Croatia
*  Denmark
*  Ecuador
*  England
*  France
*  Germany
*  Ghana
*  Iran
*  Japan
*  Mexico
*  Morocco
*  Netherlands
*  Poland
*  Portugal
*  Qatar
*  Saudi Arabia
*  Senegal
*  Serbia
*  South Korea
*  Spain
*  Switzerland
*  Tunisia
*  Uruguay
*  USA


How does the seeding and pots work?


Qatar, as hosts, will take position A1 from Pot 1.

The other 28 already qualified teams are allocated pots based on the FIFA rankings released on Thursday.

In Pot 1, Qatar will be joined by the seven highest-ranked teams.

The teams ranked eight to 15 will be allocated Pot 2, 16 to 23 will be in Pot 3 while Pot 4 will include the qualified teams in positions 24 to 28 as well as placeholders for the remaining three slots – two winners of the intercontinental playoffs and the remaining UEFA playoff winner.

Which team is in which pot?


Pot 1: Qatar, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain, Portugal
Pot 2: Mexico, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland, USA, Croatia
Pot 3: Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea, Tunisia
Pot 4: Cameroon, Canada, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Wales/Scotland/Ukraine, Peru/Australia/UAE, Costa Rica/New Zealand


What is the draw procedure?


In each team pot, there are eight balls bearing country names for each qualified team as well as three placeholders.

There are also eight pots representing the groups and are labelled A to H. In each group pot, there are four balls number one to four representing the position in each group.

A ball is drawn from the team pot and then from one of the group pots to determine the team’s position in that group.

Who are the notable omissions?


Italy, current European champions, have missed out on their second World Cup in a row.

Russia will also not be part of the draw after the team was disqualified from the playoffs due to the invasion of Ukraine.

Also absent will be Egypt, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Algeria who all fell at various hurdles in qualifying.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Miliband Sets Climate and International Law at Centre of UK Diplomacy
Pentagon Discloses Nearly 100 US Troop Injuries During Renewed Iran Fighting
Trump Readies New Tariffs as Temporary Global Levy Nears Expiry
High Prices Push Coffee Drinkers Toward Whole Beans and Home Brewing
Trump Draws Boos and Podium Scrutiny at Spain’s World Cup Triumph
Spain Defeats Argentina in Extra Time to Win Second World Cup
Turkey Explores S-400 Transfer to UAE in Bid to Rejoin F-35 Program
US Retaliates Against Iran After Two American Troops Killed in Jordan
Proposed U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Pact Could Permit Limited Uranium Enrichment Under International Safeguards
Why Kentucky Fried Chicken Became KFC—and Why the False Explanations Persist
Iran Claims It Destroyed Bahrain’s Main Artificial Intelligence Center in Missile and Drone Strike
Ukrainian Drones Strike Wildberries Warehouses Deep Inside Russia
Reported CIA Mission Helped Clear the UAE’s Path to Advanced US AI Chips
Artificial Intelligence Capital Fuels Markets While Governments and Regulators Face Mounting Strategic Tests
China’s Moonshot’s Kimi K3 Narrows the Gap With Anthropic Through Scale, Openness and Lower Cost
The Ledger Will Not Trust on Faith
Passenger Bound for Germany Refused to Sit Beside a Woman on a Plane — Then Slapped a Flight Attendant
Ukraine’s Leadership Rift Spills Into the Streets as Protesters Target Army Chief
The Ten World Cup Finals That Defined Football History
Smartphones Are Getting More Expensive, Sales Are Collapsing, and Even Apple Admits: "Prices Will Rise"
Leadership Change and Strategic Rivalry Redraw the Political Map
The AI Race Enters Its Infrastructure Era
Britain Nationalises British Steel to Protect Scunthorpe Production and Strategic Supply
Thomas Tuchel Faces Fierce Backlash After Tactical Retreat Costs England World Cup Final Berth
A Quiet Bastille Day: France Grapples with World Cup Heartbreak and Leftover Fireworks
Spain in Ecstasy: "We Feel Unbeatable, We Taught the Whole World a Lesson"
Harvard Astrophysicist to Lead U.S. Scientific Advisory on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
Emergency Sirens Activated Across Bahrain as Interior Ministry Issues Shelter Directives
World Cup Visitors Turn American Big-Box Stores Into Souvenir Stops
Netflix Weighs Always-On Channels, Bundles and Short-Form Video
The AI Invoice Shock: Layoffs Didn't Save Managers Money — They Cost Them More
Concern: Sexually Transmitted Bacterium Among Men Develops Antibiotic Resistance
Passenger Partially Pulled Out of Ryanair Jet After Cabin Window Fails Mid-Flight
Severe Heatwave Drives Dangerous Ground-Level Ozone Pollution Across Two Thirds of European Union
The Physical and Electronic Barriers Disrupting Domestic Wireless Networks
France and Morocco Open World Cup Quarter-Finals as Collina Defends Refereeing
Tech Pulse: The Future of AI and Screen Culture
Global News Briefing: Escalating Geopolitical Tensions and Corporate Shakeups
Global News Brief: Escalating Conflicts, Public Health Crises, and World Cup Drama
Europe's Growing Struggle with Extreme Heat and Air Conditioning
Anthropic Reengineers Agentic Architecture to Shift Autonomous Workplace Automation to the Cloud
Logic Flaw in Windows 11 Permission Architecture Silently Consumes Hundreds of Gigabytes of Local Storage
Apple Advances Late-Stage Operating Systems with Fourth Beta Deployments
Global Crisis Alert: Escalating Middle East Tensions and UK Political Upheaval
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
×