Ten European countries have qualified for the Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022, with only three places left. Eleven nations are still visualizing a place in Qatar in November and December, including Scotland, Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, Wales, European champions Italy, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Sweden. FIFA World Cup Fans can buy Football World Cup Tickets from our website.
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Russia, which would face
Poland, has been disqualified, while Ukraine's semi-final with Scotland has
been suspended until June.
The 11 countries are divided
into three parts, with only one country making progress on each path.
Here we take a look at each
country's World Cup record and what they need to do to compete in the biggest
show in world football alongside Belgium, England, France, Germany, Croatia,
Serbia, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.
Austria
World Cup Record: Third
(1954), Fourth (1934), Group Stage (1958, 1990, 1998), Second Round (1978,
1982).
Austria is targeting to
reach the Qatar World Cup for the first time since 1998 and will be Wales'
semi-finals in Cardiff.
They finished fourth in
their World Cup qualifying group (the same group as Scotland), but thanks to
their Nations League performances, they reached the playoffs as one of the two
qualifying countries.
Former West Ham striker
Marko Arnautovic and Real Madrid defender David Alaba are among their key
players.
Scotland
World Cup Record: Group
Stage (1954, 1958, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998).
Like Austria, Scotland is
expecting to qualify at the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 24 years.
Steve Clarke's team at Euro
2020 finished second in Group F of the World Cup qualifiers - losing only to
group winners Denmark.
Scotland defeated Denmark
2-0 in the final qualifying round to secure a semi-final at home, but if they
beat Ukraine they will travel to Wales or Austria.
Ukraine
World Cup Record: Quarter
Finals (2006).
Ukraine was firstly tried by
Scotland in the semi-final at Hampden Park on March 24. It was clear that this
was not possible after Russia invaded the country.
FIFA has decided to postpone
the match to the June international window due to security reasons and a lack
of playing time.
Ukraine's 4-0 Euro 2020
quarter-final defeat to England last summer saw them change managers, with
Oleksandr Petrakov replacing former Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko division.
They are undefeated in
qualifying, trailing group champions France, but have won just two of their
eight games and drawn the other six. Andriy Yarmolenko and Oleksandr Zinchenko,
who play for West Ham and Manchester City in the Premier League, are their
regulars.
Wales
World Cup record:
Quarter-finals (1958).
Wales only played one World
Cup final 64 years ago in Sweden, where they lost 1-0 to eventual champions
Brazil in the quarter-finals thanks to a goal from Pele.
Under Rob Page, Wales are
second in qualifying Group E, behind FIFA world No. 1 Belgium.
A draw with Belgium in
Cardiff's final qualifier gives them home advantage in the semi-finals, and
they will also receive Scotland or Ukraine if they beat Austria.
Czech Republic
World Cup Record: Group
Stage (2006).
The last time the Czechs
played at the World Cup was in 2006 when they defeated the United States but lost
to Ghana and Italy and failed to qualify for the group stage.
They defeated Scotland and
the Netherlands at Euro 2020 last summer before losing to Denmark in the
quarter-finals but finished third in their World Cup qualifying group behind
Belgium and Wales.
However, a good track record
in the Nations League took them to the playoffs. West Ham's Vladimir Coufal and
Thomas Soucek are among their most famous players.
Poland
World Cup record: third
(1974, 1982), second in the group stage (1978), top 16 (1986), the group stage
(2002, 2006, 2018), first round (1938).
Russia's eviction means a
farewell to Poland in the final, where it will face Sweden or the Czech
Republic in Qatar.
Poland wants to play in
their ninth World Cup and Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski wants to
name 2021 FIFA's best men's footballer.
They are six points behind
England in qualifying but have scored 30 goals in 10 games, with Lewandowski
having eight.
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World Cup record: runner-up
(1958), third (1950, 1994), fourth (1938), quarter-finals (1934, 2018), second
in the group stage (1974), top sixteen (2002, 2006), group stage (1970, 1978,
1990).
Sweden reached the
quarter-finals in Russia four years ago, losing 2-0 to England, but are in
danger of losing in 2022.
They host the Czech Republic
in the semi-finals, but now that the 40-year-old has been banned, he will have
to do without striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, although he will qualify for the away
final against Poland.
Sweden was well-positioned
to continue with two games to go, but lost to Georgia along the way, before
securing second place and a play-off in a tiebreak with Spain.
Italy
World Cup records: champion
(1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), runner-up (1970, 1994), third (1990), fourth (1978),
quarter-final (1998), top 16 (1986, 2002), group Stadium (1950, 1954, 1962,
1966, 1974, 2010, 2014).
World Cup without four-time
champion Italy? It happened in 2018 and will likely happen again in 2022.
Italy, who beat England to
become European champions in the Euro 2020 final last summer, remain unbeaten
in their World Cup qualifying group, but two draws with Switzerland and a draw
at home with Bulgaria and 0-0 with Northern Ireland set Italy up second place.
The Swiss advanced to the top of the group.
The play-offs will bring bad
memories for the Italians as they missed out on a place in the 2018 World Cup
in Russia after losing 1-0 to Sweden in total in two games in November 2017.
For the first time since 1958, they will host North Macedonia and, if
successful, will face Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal or Turkey.
North Macedonia
World Cup Record (as North
Macedonia): Never qualified.
North Macedonia, ranked 67th
in the world, has debatably the toughest task of any country in the play-offs
as they have to knock out European champions Italy, and if they win again, they
will again go against Portugal or Turkey.
They never qualified for the
World Cup, but made it to Euro 2020 thanks to their performances in the Nations
League, although they finished bottom of the group after losing to Austria,
Ukraine and the Netherlands.
But North Macedonia has
proven its ability to deliver a shock, with an incredible 2-1 away win over
Germany in the qualifying group stage, a result that helped them secure second
place over Romania.
Portugal
World Cup records: 3rd
(1966), 4th (2006), last 16 (2010, 2018), group stage (1986, 2002, 2014).
Portugal missed the
automatic qualifying round dramatically. They needed a home draw to Serbia in
their last game but conceded a goal in stoppage time to lose 2-1 - with Cristiano
Ronaldo in tears at the final whistle.
Now Portugal, whose squad
also includes other Premier League stars, including the Manchester City trio of
Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva, Liverpool's Diogo Jota and
Ronaldo's Manchester United team-mate Bruno Fernandes. Will be home against
Turkey followed by Italy or North Macedonia.
Ronaldo has played in four
World Cups and helped Portugal to fourth place in 2006 - knocking out England -
but at the age of 36 this may be his last chance to appear on the biggest
podium and win the final trophy.
Turkey
World Cup Record: 3rd
(2002), Group Stage (1954).
Turkey wants to qualify for
the World Cup for the third time, the first time in 20 years after reaching the
semi-finals in 2002 before losing to eventual champions Brazil.
Their team, which consists
of Leicester defender Caglar Soyuncu and Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu,
must first win in Portugal before they can play at home against Italy or North
Macedonia.
In qualifying, Turkey
finished second behind group winners the Netherlands, who later lost 6-1,
although they did beat the Netherlands 4-2.
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