{"id":2597,"date":"2021-11-16T23:34:42","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T23:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/footballvoyage.com\/?p=2597"},"modified":"2021-11-16T23:34:42","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T23:34:42","slug":"whos-in-whos-out-world-cup-field-taking-shape-after-european-qualifying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/footballvoyage.com\/?p=2597","title":{"rendered":"Who&#039;s in, who&#039;s out? World Cup field taking shape after European qualifying"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"60.833746898263\">\n<p>The European contingent for next year&#8217;s World Cup is nearly finalized.<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday brought an end to the group stage of UEFA&#8217;s qualifying format, with the Netherlands securing the last of 10 automatic berths allocated to Europe for the showpiece tournament in Qatar; 13 European teams in total will partake in the event.<\/p>\n<p>Below is a breakdown of the nations that already qualified, along with a complete explanation of the new playoff system, which will decide the final three European countries that will head to Qatar in November 2022.<\/p>\n<h3>Qualified for World Cup<\/h3>\n<p>The 10 group winners from qualifying can officially start booking their flights.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Serbia<\/li>\n<li>Spain<\/li>\n<li>Switzerland<\/li>\n<li>France<\/li>\n<li>Belgium<\/li>\n<li>Denmark<\/li>\n<li>Netherlands<\/li>\n<li>Croatia<\/li>\n<li>England<\/li>\n<li>Germany<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Going into qualification playoffs<\/h3>\n<figure class=\"article-segment--image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets-cms.thescore.com\/uploads\/image\/file\/481896\/cropped_GettyImages-1236568043.jpg?ts=1636925775\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets-cms.thescore.com\/uploads\/image\/file\/481896\/w220xh124_GettyImages-1236568043.jpg?ts=1636925775 220w, https:\/\/assets-cms.thescore.com\/uploads\/image\/file\/481896\/w320xh180_GettyImages-1236568043.jpg?ts=1636925775 320w, https:\/\/assets-cms.thescore.com\/uploads\/image\/file\/481896\/w640xh360_GettyImages-1236568043.jpg?ts=1636925775 640w, https:\/\/assets-cms.thescore.com\/uploads\/image\/file\/481896\/w768xh432_GettyImages-1236568043.jpg?ts=1636925775 768w, https:\/\/assets-cms.thescore.com\/uploads\/image\/file\/481896\/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1236568043.jpg?ts=1636925775 1080w\"\/><figcaption class=\"article-segment--image-caption\"><span class=\"article-segment--image-attribution\">PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA \/ AFP \/ Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With 10 nations earning a ticket to Qatar, that leaves three outstanding World Cup places for UEFA. Those berths will be determined by a new 12-team playoff format. The nations will be drawn into three groups of four &#8211; called &#8220;Paths&#8221; &#8211; and play one-off semifinals and a final to decide which teams get the last three spots.<\/p>\n<p>The draw for the playoffs takes place on Nov. 26 at 11:00 a.m. ET.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<strong>Seeded<\/strong>: Portugal, Scotland, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Wales<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Unseeded<\/strong>: Turkey, Poland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Austria, Czech Republic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The six seeded nations will be drawn against the six unseeded teams to create the semifinal matchups; the seeded sides will play those respective games at home. The semifinal matches are scheduled for March 24.<\/p>\n<p>The draw will also determine the potential finals for each of the three &#8220;Paths,&#8221; meaning each team will know its prospective opponent before a ball is kicked in March.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<strong>Path A<\/strong>: winner of Semifinal 1 vs. winner of Semifinal 2<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Path B<\/strong>: winner of Semifinal 3 vs. winner of Semifinal 4<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Path C<\/strong>: winner of Semifinal 5 vs. winner of Semifinal 6<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The three finals are slated for March 29.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from Russia and Ukraine being kept apart for political reasons, there are no restrictions on the draw. That means the two most recent European champions &#8211; Italy and Portugal &#8211; could potentially meet in a one-off final to determine which continental heavyweight goes to the World Cup and which one misses out.<\/p>\n<p>Italy, which famously failed to qualify for the 2018 tournament by losing in a two-legged playoff to Sweden, could very well meet the Swedes again, too.<\/p>\n<h3>Notable absentees<\/h3>\n<figure class=\"article-segment--image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets-cms.thescore.com\/uploads\/image\/file\/482289\/cropped_GettyImages-1322175082.jpg?ts=1637103677\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets-cms.thescore.com\/uploads\/image\/file\/482289\/w220xh124_GettyImages-1322175082.jpg?ts=1637103677 220w, https:\/\/assets-cms.thescore.com\/uploads\/image\/file\/482289\/w320xh180_GettyImages-1322175082.jpg?ts=1637103677 320w, https:\/\/assets-cms.thescore.com\/uploads\/image\/file\/482289\/w640xh360_GettyImages-1322175082.jpg?ts=1637103677 640w, https:\/\/assets-cms.thescore.com\/uploads\/image\/file\/482289\/w768xh432_GettyImages-1322175082.jpg?ts=1637103677 768w, https:\/\/assets-cms.thescore.com\/uploads\/image\/file\/482289\/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1322175082.jpg?ts=1637103677 1080w\"\/><figcaption class=\"article-segment--image-caption\"><span class=\"article-segment--image-attribution\">Fran Santiago \/ Getty Images Sport \/ Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Erling Haaland won&#8217;t get the opportunity to play in his first World Cup, as Norway finished third in Group G by virtue of Tuesday&#8217;s defeat to the Netherlands, thus failing to earn either automatic qualification<em> <\/em>or a playoff spot. The Borussia Dortmund superstar missed the 2-0 loss due to injury.<\/p>\n<p>Norway will be joined on the sidelines by the likes of Ireland, Hungary, Greece, Finland, and Iceland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European contingent for next year&#8217;s World Cup is nearly finalized. Tuesday brought an end to the group stage of UEFA&#8217;s qualifying format, with the Netherlands securing the last of 10 automatic berths allocated to Europe for the showpiece tournament in Qatar; 13 European teams in total will partake in the event. Below is a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bundesliga"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballvoyage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballvoyage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballvoyage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballvoyage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballvoyage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/footballvoyage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballvoyage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballvoyage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballvoyage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballvoyage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}