The 2022 World Cup will be played in Qatar from November 21 to December 18 with 32 teams.

Europe has 13 participants, of which ten teams have already secured a place at the World Cup as winners of the ten qualifying groups from 55 applicant countries (in addition to Germany, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Croatia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Serbia and Spain).

Play-offs will be held for the remaining three tickets.

Who is in the playoffs and why?

The ten runners-up in the preliminary round groups qualified for the play-offs – as well as the two best teams in the Nations League 2020/2021 that were not already in the top ten or runners-up: these are Austria and the Czech Republic.

After Russia's exclusion, eleven teams are still eligible for these three places - including European champions Italy and Ukraine.

What's the mode?

There are three so-called play-off paths (A, B and C) with four teams each.

Paths and semi-final pairings were drawn.

The six best runners-up from qualifying were seeded in pot 1 and received home advantage in the semifinals this Thursday.

The finals will take place on March 29th.

The three final winners qualify for the World Cup finals.

Only one game is played at a time, so these are “real” finals.

Who is playing against whom?

Path A:

Wales - Austria, Scotland - Ukraine (postponed to June).

Path B:

Sweden - Czech Republic, Russia - Poland (cancelled, Poland in final B).

Route C:

Portugal - Turkey, Italy - North Macedonia.

All games (including the three finals) can be seen on DAZN.

Which stars are there?

There are some.

Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, could stumble over the Turks coached by Stefan Kuntz with Portugal.

World footballer Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich via Sweden or the Czech Republic.

In the duel between Wales and Austria, it will be decided whether Gareth Bale or David Alaba will have to give up their dreams of their (first) World Cup participation prematurely.

And last but not least, the team of European champions Italy against North Macedonia or in the final against Portugal/Turkey is threatened with losing the World Cup.

What are the consequences of the exclusion of Russia?

Robert Lewandowski and his Poles refused to play their semi-final against the Russian national team after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sweden and the Czech Republic, who would have been potential final opponents in play-off final B, joined the boycott threat.

The pressured FIFA and UEFA subsequently banned Russia from their competitions until further notice.

Poland is thus automatically in the play-off final B.

What is happening to Ukraine?

Ukraine's semi-final game in Scotland (Path A) has been postponed.

According to FIFA, a new date has not yet been set, but the window from June 2nd to June 14th is being considered, when the UEFA Nations League will also be played.

The same applies to the play-off final path A.

Alternatively, the non-playing Scots and Poland will play a friendly in Glasgow this Thursday.

Part of the proceeds will go to the Unicef ​​aid for Ukraine.

What questions arise?

The most important question: Can the semi-final game between Scotland and Ukraine take place in June as previously planned.

And what happens if this is not possible?

What does this mean for the draw?

The preliminary round groups for the World Cup finals will be drawn on Friday of the coming week (April 1st).

The three participants who have not yet been determined automatically end up in the last pot.

In addition to a European participant, the winners of the intercontinental play-offs, which will take place on 13./14.

to take place in June.

A team from Asia (winner of the game of the two third parties) meets the fifth-placed team from the South America group - and the fourth-placed team from the North/Central America/Caribbean group meets the winner of the Oceania qualification.