The dictionary defines a dark horse as "a candidate or competitor who knows very little about it, but who unexpectedly wins or succeeds."
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be a World Cup unlike any other, and its unique nature is likely to make it a dark horse year.
Here are five things to note.
Ecuador
Ecuador did not qualify for the World Cup for the first time until 2002, but they have been regulars in the World Cup ever since, and their growth as a football nation has been impressive.
Arguably, La Tri has never had a more exciting young player than the young players who will travel to Qatar, with the likes of Pervis Estupi, Moisés Caicedo and Piero Hincapié constituting the golden generation at the equator.
We will see them very early when they face hosts Qatar on the first matchday and their goal is to pass the group stage at least the second time in their history.
Denmark
Despite being traumatized by Christian Eriksen's cardiac arrest, the Danes performed well at last summer's European Championships, reaching the semi-finals before being eliminated by Britain.
Since then, they have built on these foundations, winning 9 of the 10 qualifiers, scoring 30 goals and conceding only 3 to qualify for the World Cup.
Eriksen will be back for the World Cup and the whole team will have the strengths, with people like Caspar Schmeichel, Andreas Christensen, Joakin Mahel, Bjør and Mikle Damsgald as a small part of coach Casper Helmand.
This will be their sixth world cup and their goal is to tie or surpass the 1998 quarter-finals.
Canada
2022 will be Canada's second appearance at the World Cup and the first since 1986. The last time they entered the tournament, they didn't score a single point, not even a single goal.
However, there is a real sense of excitement about the Red Sun, and that excitement doesn't just come from Canadians.
Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies and Lille striker Jonathan David are two of the hottest young players in European football, and their coach John Herdman has formed a strong cohesive force in the team while playing exciting quick counter-attack football.
They qualified for the first time in 36 years, which is a heartwarming story in itself, and it will be fascinating to see how they perform on the big stage.
Senegal
When you think of Senegal, the first player to pop into your mind is probably Sadio Manné, and he alone is enough to make them worth paying attention to in Qatar.
But the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations winner is certainly not just Manne, with the likes of Edouard Mendy, Kalidu Koulibaly, Idrisa Gaye and Ismera Sal forming the most formidable backbone of this team.
Colchi Aliou Cisse is also a shrewd player who was the first to spend the current 2002 World Cup as Senegal's team, when Senegal beat hosts France in the first match.
In the 20 years in between, they have come a long way, and if 2022 will be the first year in which an African country wins the World Cup, Senegal may have the best chance of all countries.
Qatar
Group A, featuring Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal and the Netherlands, may not be the group of dead for the 2022 World Cup, but it will certainly be the dark horse group.
Qatar has been awarded the chance to host the World Cup for 12 years, and in those 12 years they have moved up 64 places in the FIFA World Rankings and continue to develop into a football country by winning the 2019 Asian Cup and reaching the semi-finals of the China-Canada Football Championship in 2021.
Their team may not be made up of the most household names in the game, but in Spain coach Felix Sanchez, they have a former Barcelona youth coach with a fascinating philosophy of football.
As we saw in Russia in 2018 and South Korea in 2002, underestimating tournament host countries would put you in danger.