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.