FIFA WC (UEFA): 2022 qualifying draw held, Holders France face Ukraine – all you need to know

The draw for the 2022 FIFA World Cup (WC) qualifying round (UEFA) has been held in Zurich, setting the road for the finals to be staged in Qatar.

The draw which was held on Monday, has paired defending champions France against Ukraine, while Christiano Ronaldo’s Portugal have been drawn in group A along with Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan.

The qualifying will be split into two stages; group stage and play-offs. For group stage, teams will be split into ten groups of five or six (the four teams who reached the 2021 UEFA Nations League finals – Belgium, France, Italy, Spain – will be in the smaller groups). The ten group winners qualify for the World Cup finals in Qatar.

At the play-offs, the ten group runners-up are joined by the two best group winners of 2020/2021 UEFA Nations overall ranking that have neither qualified directly for the final tournament as European Qualifiers group winners, nor entered the play-offs already as European Qualifiers group runners-up. The 12 teams will be drawn into three play-off paths for one-off semi-finals and a final. The three path winners qualify for the World Cup.

The dates for the matches have been listed below:

Matchday 1: 24–25 March 2021
Matchday 2: 27–28 March 2021
Matchday 3: 30–31 March 2021
Matchday 4: 1–2 September 2021
Matchday 5: 4–5 September 2021
Matchday 6: 7–8 September 2021
Matchday 7: 8–9 October 2021
Matchday 8: 11–12 October 2021
Matchday 9: 11–13 November 2021
Matchday 10: 14–16 November 2021

Play-offs: 24, 25, 28, 29 March 2022

World Cup: 21 November–18 December 2022