If you are a regular viewer of football, you must know that the World Cup 2022 is going to be held soon in Qatar. Qatar is a middle east country who has been trying to get the opportunity to host the tournament since 2011. It faced a lot of issues and controversies as well but here it is now hosting the World Cup and making everyone come and play on their soil. Last time the world cup was played in 2018 in Russia and France became the champion. Russia is the largest Country on the planet in terms of surface area which has been in news since last few months. Qatar and Russia, both are currently in the news but for different reasons.
Is Russia in the World Cup 2022?
Qatar is the hosting nation of the World Cup 2022 while Russia is in limelight due to its war with Ukraine. Russia was the one who hosted the world cup in 2018 and now it’s not even going to make an appearance in the World Cup 2022. Yes, Russia is not in the World Cup 2022. It didn’t happen as per Russia’s own wish actually. Russia was fully prepared to play in the FIFA World Cup Qatar as it had qualified for the World Cup playoffs after finishing second in Group H in the UEFA qualifiers. It was all set to play further with Poland on March 24 but that’s when Russian forces attacked on Ukraine on February 24 and the war began.
Why is Russia not playing in the FIFA World Cup 2022?
The Major reason behind Russia not appearing in the FIFA World Cup 2022 is its war with Ukraine. As soon as Russia started the attack on Ukraine, FIFA banned Russia in February following the series of invasions in Ukraine.
Later, Russia also made a request to freeze the ban on its football teams in the FIFA competitions but their request was turned down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). A few days later, a decision of CAS confirmed that Russia will not be a part of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Russia was all set to play against Poland on March 24 but FIFA instead handed their opponents a bye to the final of their play-off route. Then, Poland was made to face either Sweden or the Czech Republic and then the semi-final on March 24 led him to the World Cup Qatar.
Russia categorically disagreed with the ban and appealed again but it was denied by CAS who confirmed that “the challenged Decision remains in force”.
CAS Statement on Russia’s ban from World Cup
Well, till now we have told you the summary of what happened due to which Russia is not qualified to Play in the World Cup 2022. But now we’ll tell you the exact words CAS said. CAS made a media release which reads:
“The president of the Appeals Arbitration Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected the request filed by the Football Union of Russia to stay, for the duration of CAS proceedings the execution of the FIFA Council’s decision to suspend all Russian teams and clubs from participation in its competitions until further notice (the Challenged Decision). Accordingly, the challenged decision remains in force and all Russian teams and clubs are to be suspended from participation in FIFA competitions. The CAS arbitration proceedings continue. A panel of arbitrators is currently being constituted and the parties are exchanging written submissions. No hearing has been fixed yet.”
If not Russia, which countries are in the World Cup 2022?
32 teams which are going to play in the 2022 World Cup have been selected from different regions. 13 qualified Nations for the 2022 World Cup are from Europe, four from Asia, four from South America, 5 from Africa and the last 4 teams have been qualified from North America and Australia, a member of the Asian confederation. But the most important thing is which 32 teams qualify for the upcoming next world cup.
As I told you before, only 32 countries qualify for a world cup. Same rule is imposed on the upcoming 2022 World Cup. 32 nations selected for the tournament represent different regions. This list of Nations include Switzerland, Germany, Brazil, Denmark, Belgium, Croatia, France, Serbia, Spain, England, Netherlands, Argentina, IR Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan, Canada, Uruguay, Ecuador, Canada, Ghana, Senegal, Poland, Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia, United States, Cameroon, Wales and Mexico.
Regions that FIFA World Cup Represents
- Africa (CAF): 5
- Europe (UEFA): 13
- Asia (AFC): 4 (plus 1 playoff qualifier)
- Oceania (OFC): 1 playoff qualifier
- North/central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 3 (+1 playoff qualifier)
- South America (CONMEBOL): 4 (+1 playoff qualifier)
How many countries qualified from each region?
As I mentioned above 13 teams were to be selected from Europe for the world cup while there are a total of 55 countries in the continent. This is why qualification matches were played between them. Qualification process went on from March to November 2021. Countries were distributed in 10 groups and the winner of each group qualified for the tournament. The place of the remaining three countries are filled via playoffs.
Four teams were to be qualified from North America, Central America, Caribbean (CONCACAF). There are a total of 35 FIFA affiliated nations in CONCACAF most of whom are very minor in the football world. Qualification process for the FIFA World Cup 2022 went on for one year from September 2020 to September 2022. Three nations qualified from the rounds of matches which are Canada, Mexico and the United States. While one was the playoff team of Costa Rica.
Five slots were available for South Africa and the teams which filled these slots after qualifying included Cameroon, Morocco, Senegal, Ghana and Tunisia. There are 54 FIFA affiliated nations in CAF. In order to select nations for World Cup 2022, two rounds of matches were held. This process went on for two years. First round was played by 28 lowest ranked nations out of which 14 became winners. These 14 nations joined 26 other African nations in the second round. These 40 teams were split into 10 groups of four teams. The winners of each group went to finals.
Five teams qualified from Asia (AFC). These were qualified after completing four rounds. The fourth round was to qualify a playoff team. IR Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Japan qualified on the basis of their performance in three rounds. While Australia qualified in the fourth round as a playoff team.
