Under the title "Portugal, Italy, and Sweden... A Fiery European Playoff for the World Cup," Sky News published an article regarding the qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. The website noted that as the European qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup concluded, attention is now on the playoff matches, which are taking a new format for the first time, with 12 teams competing for the last 3 spots to qualify from Europe for the biggest global football event.
Ten European teams qualified for the World Cup by topping their groups in the qualifiers: Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Croatia, England, and Germany. The second-placed teams from the ten groups advanced to the European playoff, along with Austria and the Czech Republic from the UEFA Nations League. The playoff teams are Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Wales, Russia, Scotland, Poland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Austria, North Macedonia, and Ukraine.
Of course, interest in the playoff matches has heightened with the presence of prestigious teams such as Italy (European champion), Portugal with its captain Cristiano Ronaldo, Sweden led by Zlatan Ibrahimović, and Poland led by Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski.
According to the seeding of the playoff teams, they have been divided into two pots. The first pot includes Portugal, Scotland, Italy, Russia, Sweden, and Wales; while the second pot consists of Turkey, Poland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Austria, and the Czech Republic. The twelve teams will be divided into 3 groups, each containing 4 teams (2 from pot one and 2 from pot two).
Each of the three groups will feature two semifinals, with a final match between the winners of each semifinal to secure a qualification spot. The teams that garnered the most points in the qualifiers will have the opportunity to host their opponents in the semifinals, while the host for the final is determined by a draw.
The draw for the European playoff matches will be held on November 26 in Zurich, Switzerland. The semifinals of the European playoff will take place on March 24 and 25, with the final matches for the three qualification spots occurring on March 28 and 29.
