Explained: From qualified teams to pots, a detailed look at FIFA World Cup 2022 draw-Sports News , Firstpost

The draw for this year’s FIFA World Cup takes place in the shadow of Doha’s skyscrapers on Friday, with the focus for the evening on the actual football after a build-up dominated by the many off-field issues surrounding the awarding of the tournament.

It is the most controversial World Cup in history, with Qatar dogged ever since it was named host in 2010 by accusations of vote-buying — which were hotly denied — and questions over the country’s suitability.

From human rights concerns to the ongoing war in Ukraine, it has been impossible to keep the spotlight solely on the sport, but FIFA president Gianni Infantino has repeated, as he did on Thursday, that it “will be a fantastic and unique World Cup”.

“We never will have another World Cup where eight stadiums are all within 50 kilometres, fans can watch several games in a day and there is no travel for teams,” he insisted ahead of the first World Cup to be played in November and December.

The move away from the usual June and July slot was forced upon FIFA by the heat in the region at that time of year, but the competition is finally approaching and excitement about the draw itself is inevitable.

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup draw that takes place later on Friday, we look at the seedings of the various teams and other key information pertaining to the event:

How many teams have been confirmed for the World Cup draw?

The World Cup draw that takes place in Doha, Qatar later on Friday will have 29 confirmed teams including the tournament hosts, with the remaining three sides set to be confirmed in June this year.

Following are the teams that have been confirmed for the draw: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Uruguay, USA

What are the seedings like and how many pots are there in the draw?

The eight groups for the tournament in Qatar will be drawn Friday from four team pots.

Qatar gets the top-seeded slot given to the World Cup host nation despite being ranked No 51. The other top-seeded teams are Brazil, Belgium, defending champion France, Argentina, England, Spain and Portugal. Sixth-ranked Italy is a notable exception in this regard, having failed to qualify for a second consecutive World Cup.

Besides the United States, Pot 2 includes Mexico, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland and Croatia, while in Pot 3 it’s Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea and Tunisia.

Three of the 32 entries are still unknown because qualifying hasn’t been completed. Those three entries have all been placed in Pot 4 regardless of the rankings of the teams involved. No 18 Wales is the highest-ranked of the eight teams left in the playoffs. The rest of Pot 4 includes Cameroon Ecuador, Saudi Arabia and Ghana along with Canada.

How are the tournament groups and positions determined?

In addition to the four pots mentioned above, there will be another eight pots denoting the eight groups labelled A to H. Each group pot contains four balls numbered one to four denoting positions within that group.

During the draw, a ball is drawn from the team pot followed by a numbered ball from the group pot, thus establishing the group and the position for that team in the tournament. A pot has to be completely emptied before the moving on to the next one.

The only exception in this regard is Qatar, with the tournament hosts having already been awarded the A1 position. The remaining seven teams from Pot 1 are automatically awarded the first position in each of the remaining groups from B to H.

Can two teams from the same continent be placed in the same group in the draw?

The rules at the World Cup draw ensure two teams from the same continent do not end up being placed in the same group in the FIFA World Cup.

However, since UEFA has the most qualifying slots — 13 out of 32 to be more precise — it is not entirely possible for FIFA to avoid clubbing two European teams together in the World Cup as five out of the eight groups will have two European sides.

With inputs from AFP and AP

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