4 Arab teams will play in one group in the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, after the UAE, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon were drawn together on Thursday.
The strong first group will also include Iran and South Korea, so the Arabs will be assured of qualifying for the playoffs, at least.
The first two teams qualify directly for the World Cup finals, while the third ranked will play a confrontation with its counterpart in the other group, and the winner qualifies for the play-off against a team from another continent to compete for the appearance card in Qatar.
Saudi Arabia and Oman will play in Group B with the two giants, Japan and Australia, as well as China and Vietnam.
The final stage of the Asian qualifiers begins in September and ends in March, while the play-off takes place in June.
The Saudi national team was the only representative of the Arabs of Asia in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but then it was eliminated in the first round.
Draw for the final round of the Asian qualifiers for the #WorldCup Qatar 2022 🇶🇦🏆
Which group is the most difficult in your opinion?
🤔 pic.twitter.com/SiIXvJkp2x
— @fifaworldcup_ar 🏆 (@fifaworldcup_ar) July 1, 2021
The result of the lottery was as follows:
The first group:
Iran, South Korea, UAE, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
the second group:
Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, China, Oman, and Vietnam.