The 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers enter the final sprint.
On March 29, local time, the Final Round of the World Preliminary Tournament will be played in the Asian, European, South American and African regions at the same time.
At that time, in addition to 2 intercontinental places and 1 European zone play-off name that could not be settled due to postponement, the 29 world cup seats will be settled.
As of March 26, Beijing time, 19 of the 32 places in this World Cup have been settled.
In addition to the 10 national teams of Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland and the Netherlands that have already qualified in the European region, five teams in the Asian region, Qatar (host), Iran, South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia, have been confirmed to reach the World Cup.
In the South American division, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador won four places.
On 29 March, the World Cup qualifiers for Africa, Asia and South America entered the final round.
At that time, the African Division will produce 5 qualifying places; the Asian Division will determine the final place in the group; and the South American Division will determine the fifth place to participate in the Intercontinental Play-offs.
In europe, due to the postponement of Ukraine's participation in the play-offs, only 2 of the 3 play-offs originally scheduled for March 29 could be produced.
In these two key games, North Macedonia, which eliminated Italy, will face Portugal led by Cristiano Ronaldo, and whether the European dark horse can once again upset and send Portugal home has attracted much attention.
After the Russian team was removed from FIFA, the Polish team won automatically, and will face sweden in the final round directly against the Czech Republic in the final round to compete for a place in the European zone.
Wales will face the winner between Ukraine and Scotland after a 2-1 win over Austria, and the match will take place in June this year.
In North and Central America and the Caribbean, the World Preliminary Tournament currently has the last two rounds left, which will eventually produce three qualifying places.
Currently, Canada leads with 25 points, while the United States and Mexico both score 22 points, ranking second and third, respectively. These three North American teams temporarily occupy three direct promotion spots.
Costa Rica is currently in fourth place with 19 points and there is still hope of qualifying.
According to FIFA arrangements, on April 1, the World Cup group stage draw will be held in Switzerland. At that time, the draw will be based on the latest edition of the World Rankings announced on March 31.
Therefore, in the final round of the World Preliminary Round group stage held on March 29, even if they have already qualified, the participating teams, including Japan and South Korea, will strive to win in order to obtain the best points ranking of the National Football Federation.