The group draw will take place on 1 April

The 2022 World Cup Organizing Committee confirmed that the group draw will be held in Doha on 1 April. More precisely, the ceremony will take place at the Congress and Exhibition Centre in the Qatari capital and in front of 2,000 guests. The world governing body FIFA announced the date in October.

After the postponement of the Scotland vs. Ukraine play-off semi-final, a change of date wouldn’t have come as a surprise. However, this represents one of the last highlights in the context of the organization of the 2022 World Cup. Thereafter, 31 participants can start to arrange the logistics as well as the definitive schedule.

At the earliest, the participants’ field will be complete in June

However, there will be a rare event. Because: There will be a placeholder in the draw. And we will see this placeholder at the earliest until June. Because: Due to Russia’s invasion of the Eastern European nation, the FIFA postponed the Scotland vs Ukraine match until June. The winner of this match will face the one of the other semi-final in path A, Wales vs. Austria. As it stands today, the latter match will be played on 24 March as scheduled.

But the Russian war against Ukraine had also an impact on path B. Because: FIFA banned the Russian Football Union (RFU) and ultimately decided to let Poland advance to the final. In response, the Russians appealed to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland. Previously, Slovakia and Norway applied to the world governing body to take their place in the play-offs. Poland will now compete in the final on 29 March against the winner of the semi-final Sweden vs. the Czech Republic.

15 teams are qualified so far

As a result, as of today, only in path C all matches will take place as scheduled. The semi-finals will be played on 24 March between Italy and North Macedonia, as well as between Portugal and Turkey. Afterwards, the winner of the second match will play in the final in front of their home crowd.

So far, 15 participants are confirmed for the 2022 World Cup, which will be held between 21 November and 18 December. Ten of them belong to the European association UEFA. These are Germany, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Croatia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Serbia, and Spain. Additionally, Argentina, Brazil, Iran, the hosts Qatar, and South Korea surely will participate in the tournament.

Alice Kopp

By Alice Kopp

Alice is half Austrian and half Italian. That's why she experienced the 1990 World Cup in Italy at first hand. And that awakened her enthusiasm for football. Since she has loved writing since childhood, Alice began to study journalism while still at school. It was very convenient for her that her class took part in a project of a German daily newspaper. She was also allowed to write for the children's pages of an Austrian daily newspaper and to get a taste of the sports department of the same medium. This is how she received her first press accreditations, which was of course anything but a matter of course for the then 18-year-old. Although she was partly advised against it, Alice decided to study journalism and communication sciences. After a few years, she decided to use the exams she had taken as an elective. Nevertheless, she applies the knowledge she has acquired in her further professional life. The same applies to her language skills. In addition to her mother tongues German and Italian, Alice is also proficient in English and Spanish. She also understands French and can use this language in research. During her studies, Alice was involved in an Austrian football club. At the same time, she wrote for a total of three Austrian portals and worked as an Austria correspondent for an Italian-language online medium. This collaboration started during Giovanni Trapattoni's era at Red Bull Salzburg and continued during EURO 2008. This gave her the opportunity to interact with Trapattoni as well as with Italian journalists. From the following year, Alice initially worked with a Swiss portal before discovering sports betting content for herself. On the one hand, this kept her in sports journalism, and on the other, it broadened her horizons. And that both in the context of the sports betting industry and with other sports as well as countries. In the field of sports journalism, she focused in particular on football from around the world, volleyball and beach volleyball. In addition, she naturally wrote several guides, bookmaker profiles, bonus articles and other content for betting enthusiasts. She did this for the same company for about ten years, writing articles in German and Italian. She also built the Italian-language website together with the managing director. Meanwhile, Alice started working with another Austrian football club. Furthermore, she joined the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS) in 2016. This gives her the opportunity to watch teams and athletes on the ground relatively often. Not only sports betting, but also radio In January 2019, the next step in her professional development followed. For: she started creating premium content on the topic of sports betting. In the process, she finally put out feelers to almost all countries and all continents. And this was not least due to the fact that both German and English-speaking users subscribed to her content. Nevertheless, Alice continued to use her knowledge of Italian, among other things. On the one hand, because she regularly exchanges ideas with Italian colleagues, and on the other, because she works with a web radio station. The Corona crisis had a strong impact on the sports world and on interest in sports betting, primarily in the early days. Therefore, a fresh start was necessary and, on balance, Alice found the fields of activity that suited her best. She also writes articles for an agency on almost all disciplines as well as on eSports and content for a German online medium. Alice is half Austrian and half Italian. That's why she experienced the 1990 World Cup in Italy at first hand. And that awakened her enthusiasm for football.