Officially. Ukraine will be in the second pot during the 2022 World Cup qualifying round draw

27.11.2020 14:00

Photo fifa.com

FIFA have published another ranking of national teams, in which Ukraine ranks 24th. According to the regulations, this register will form the composition of the pots before the 2022 World Cup qualifying draw in the UEFA zone. Thus, Ukraine, which ranks 16th among European teams, will be in the second pot. 

It will be recalled that the draw ceremony takes place on December 7 this year in Zurich (beginning at 19.00 pm Kyiv time). The 2022 World Cup qualifying in the European zone, with 13 places to compete over, should start in March 2021 and end with playoff matches in March 2022.

World Cup 2022. Qualifying. European zone

Group Round

All 55 teams representing UEFA associations will play in a two-round tournament in 10 groups (five for six teams and five for five). There are 10 windows from March to November 2021. Before the draw, participants according to the FIFA rating on 26.11.2020 will be divided into six pots (five will have 10 teams, one - five).

Pot 1: Belgium, France, England, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands.

Pot 2: Switzerland, Wales, Poland, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania.

Pot 3: Russia, Hungary, Ireland, Czech Republic, Norway, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Scotland, Greece, Finland.

Pot 4: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Israel, Belarus, Georgia, Luxembourg.

Pot 5: Armenia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Latvia, Andorra.

Pot 6: Malta, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, San Marino.

Photo fifa.com

Note that the national teams of Ukraine and Russia will be separated. Another point: no more than two countries from the winter pool can get to one group (Iceland, Faroe Islands, Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Norway, Russia). These teams will play a minimum of home matches in March and November. 

1 round. March 24-25, 2021.

2 round. March 27-28, 2021.

3 round. March 30-31, 2021.

4 round. September 1-2, 2021.

5 round. September 4-5, 2021.

6 round. September 7-8, 2021.

7 round. October 8-9, 2021.

8 round. October 11-12, 2021.

9 round. November 11-13, 2021.

10 round. November 14-16, 2021.

10 group winners will go directly to the World Cup 2022. The other teams will continue to challenge in the next phase.

Playoff round

The 10 second teams of the qualifying groups and the two best teams among the winners of the groups of the League of Nations 2020/2021 (of those who will not get to the top two in the qualification groups of the 2022 World Cup) will play in March 2022 in the playoffs, which will consist of two single-match stages.

The 12 participants will first determine the six in the butt semifinal matches, and then in the finals - the three strongest. They will receive the remaining three tickets to Qatar. The World Cup will be held from November 21 to December 18, 2022.

At the 2022 World Cup Europe has 13 representatives, Africa - 5, South America and Asia - 4,5, CONCACAF - 3,5, Oceania - 0,5. Another license went to Qatar as the host of the tournament.