Hiram Moreno
The 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar is scheduled to kick off on November 20, with the match between hosts Qatar and Ecuador kicking off the group stage of the tournament.
Once the 32 participating teams from the different soccer confederations in the world were known, the draw was made to determine the group stage, which took place on April 1, 2022, in Doha, Qatar.
However, what were the criteria for the creation of these groups? How are they made up? How many teams will advance in each of them? We will give you answers to each of these questions here at JefeBet.
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Criteria to Be Followed During the Grouping of the Groups
Prior to the draw that led to the creation of the groups for this 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, the 32 participating teams were divided into a total of 4 pots.
Each pot consisted of a total of eight teams, which were organized on the basis of the FIFA ranking as of March 31, 2022. Qatar, the host country of the event, was part of Pot 1, which also included the other seven top-ranked teams in the FIFA rankings at the time.
The other pots were defined using the same criteria, whereby Pot 2 contained the next eight highest-ranked teams in the FIFA rankings and the same happened with Pot 3 and 4. However, pot 4 only had the last five lowest-ranked nations in that FIFA ranking, and alongside them would be the team that won in the CONMEBOL vs AFC and CONCACAF vs OFC intercontinental playoffs, plus one of the UEFA playoff winners.
According to these criteria, the pots were organized as follows:
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Qatar Brazil Belgium France Argentina England Spain Portugal | Mexico Netherlands Denmark Germany Uruguay Switzerland United States Croatia | Senegal Iran Japan Morocco Serbia Poland South Korea Tunisia | Cameroon Canada Ecuador Saudi Arabia Ghana Australia Costa Rica Wales |
The Eight Groups for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar
With the groups already established, the draw was made to define the eight groups that will make up the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.
Considering that there are 32 participating teams, these were distributed into eight different groups ranging from A to H, with each group having one member from the four established pots.
Once the draw was made, the groups were defined as follows:
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H |
| Qatar Netherlands Senegal Ecuador | England United States Iran Wales | Argentina Mexico Poland Saudi Arabia | France Denmark Tunisia Australia | Spain Germany Japan Costa Rica | Belgium Croatia Morocco Canada | Brazil Switzerland Serbia Cameroon | Portugal Uruguay South Korea Ghana |
How Many Teams Will Advance to the Knockout Stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar?
Of the eight groups, only the countries ranked in the top two places in each of them will advance to the next round of the competition. The teams that finish third and fourth in their respective groups will have no choice but to go home empty-handed.
In addition, being group leader could provide a certain advantage as those who finish first are guaranteed to face a country that finished second in their respective group, although there is always the possibility of a giant finishing second.
Will this be the case in this World Cup? Will there be surprises during the group stage? We are looking forward to the tournament to find out.
