FIFA President Congratulates 32 Successful World Cup Teams

FIFA President Congratulates 32 Successful World Cup Teams.

There are 211 national association football teams that are affiliated with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, FIFA, via six independent continental confederations.

The names of the six independent confederations are the Asian Football Confederation, AFC, (for Asian countries), Confederation of African Football, CAF, (for African countries), Confederation of North, and Central America, and Caribbean Association Football, CONCACAF, (for North and Central America and the Caribbean countries), Confederacion Sudamericana de Futbol, CONMEBOL, (for South American countries), Oceania Football Confederation, OFC, (for countries in Oceania), and Union of European Football Associations, UEFA, (for European countries).

Each of the 211 countries represented by these confederations always looks forward to having the opportunity to participate in the quadrennial FIFA World Cup championship.

Unfortunately, it would be a Herculean task or almost impossible to organise a single soccer competition for 211 teams from 211 countries at a time.

As a result of this, FIFA, in its infinite wisdom, decided to devise a means to reduce the number of eligible entrants to a manageable figure.

This is done through an intelligent and well-planned qualification process called ‘FIFA Qualification.’

The FIFA World Cup qualification, therefore, is a seamless way of choosing national association football teams that would participate in a certain edition of the FIFA World Cup.

The teams have been grouped continentally, and they competed for a fixed number of places, with one or two places awarded to the winners of intercontinental playoffs.

There was no qualification exercise in the first-ever FIFA World Cup that was held in Uruguay in 1930, as it was a mere invitational tournament.

Qualification for countries to participate in World Cup started with the 1934 edition held in Italy.

Since then, the World Cup’s qualification has evolved, from having no qualification at all in 1930, when the tournament was invitational and only 13 teams entered, to the current three-year process.

While the number of teams that qualified for the finals has gradually increased, from 16, between 1934 and 1978, to 24, between 1982 and 1994, and finally to 32 starting from 1998, the qualification format has been basically the same throughout the history of the World Cup.

According to FIFA, the number of participating teams will be expanded to 48 from the 2026 edition of the World Cup to be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

FIFA reserves the right to decide the number of places in the finals allocated to each of the six zones, based on the numbers and relative strength of the confederations’ teams.

Since the inception of the World Cup competition, host countries usually get the automatic right to participate, and so did the defending champions.

In other words, defending champions and countries that host World Cup championships are given automatic qualification tickets and do not take part in the qualification processes.

Unlike with other sports, the results of previous World Cups or of continental championships are not taken into account.

The qualification process for Qatar 2022 commenced in 2019 and ended just recently, in accordance with the three-year qualification period.

A total of 32 teams qualified for this year’s World Cup to be held in Qatar.

Which are the teams that qualified for the Qatar finals? 

The qualified teams for the Qatar 2022 World Cup are as follows, in alphabetical order:

Asian Football Confederation, AFC

• Australia
• Iran
• Japan
• Saudi Arabia
• South Korea
• Qatar
  

Confederation of African Football, CAF

• Cameroon
• Ghana
• Morocco
• Senegal
• Tunisia
  

Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football, CONCACAF

• Canada
• Costa Rica
• Mexico
• United States
  

Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol, CONMEBOL

• Argentina
• Brazil
• Ecuador
• Uruguay
  

Oceania Football Confederation, OFC

No team made it from the Oceania region.

Union of European Football Associations, UEFA

• Belgium
• Croatia
• Denmark
• England
• France
• Germany
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal
• Serbia
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Wales
  

All in all, 13 teams from Europe qualified, 6 from Asia, 5 from Africa, 4 from North and Central America, and the Caribbean, and 4 from South America.

NO team made it from the Oceania region.

FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, has congratulated all 32 nations on their qualification for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.

President Infantino sent this message after attending the two intercontinental playoffs and completing of qualifiers for Qatar 2022.

One of the play-offs was between Australia and Peru.  Australia outclassed Peru in that match by 5-4 on penalties, after a 0-0 draw.

The second play-off was contested by Costa Rica and New Zealand. The former pipped the latter 1-0.

Both matches were played at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Saudi Arabia.

“So now we know the 32 countries who qualified for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,” said the FIFA President.

“Congratulations to all of you and of course welcome to the fans of the 32 countries, but to fans from all over the world to Doha in November and December of this year in a few months’ time to celebrate football, to live together the greatest show on earth and the best World Cup ever.”

We, the people of Soccer Fans Arena, SFA, also wish to congratulate all the teams that qualified to take part in the Qatar 2022 World Cup, coming up in Qatar in a few months from now.

All of us at Soccer Fans Arena, SFA, wish all of you a good outing and success in the coming global event.

I want to also use this opportunity to inform soccer fans, all over the world, that the FIFA World Cup, Qatar 2022, will kick off on Monday, November 21, 2022, with four matches to be played on that day.

One of Africa’s representatives, Senegal, will square up with the national team of The Netherlands in the opening game.

The remaining three matches of the day will be: England vs IR Iran, hosts Qatar vs Ecuador, and USA vs Wales.

The 64th and final match will be played at the biggest 80,000-capacity Lusail Stadium in Qatar, on 18 December 2022.

FIFA President Congratulates 32 Successful World Cup Teams. THE END.

By Moses T. O’Dyle. Moses T. O’Dyle, a major contributor to this blog, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.