The European qualifying groups for the 2022 Men’s World Cup have been announced. There are ten groups of national teams. The 55 member national associations of UEFA have been split into five groups of six and five respectively. Each of the group winners will qualify automatically for the World Cup in 2022. The ten runners up will be joined by the two best ranked 2021 UEFA Nations League group winners, who haven’t otherwise progressed, go into a playoff system that will produce three further teams for the 13 berths given to Europe.
The groups have been seeded, with the stronger sides placed with other mid range and lower ranked teams, allowing for those who have achieved much more over the past few years and have had superior form recently to have an easier route to the Finals. As the four UEFA Nations League Finalists this year Belgium, France, Italy and Spain have been placed into the smaller groups. The matches will take place between March and November 2021, with the playoffs taking place on March 2022.
The groups are as follows…
Groups A; Portugal, Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan
Group B; Spain, Sweden, Greece, Georgia, Kosovo
Group C; Italy, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Lithuania
Group D; France, Ukraine, Finland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kazakhstan
Group E; Belgium, Wales, Czech Republic, Belarus, Estonia
Group F; Denmark, Austria, Scotland, Israel, Faroe Islands, Moldova
Group G; Netherlands, Turkey, Norway, Montenegro, Latvia, Gibraltar
Group H; Croatia, Slovakia, Russia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta
Group I; England, Poland, Hungary, Albania, Andorra, San Marino
Group J; Germany, Romania, Iceland, North Macedonia, Armenia, Liechtenstein
This is all fine and well as well as being a tried and tested method of finding the best of the best from Europe in order to send the continent’s finest footballers to the World Cup. The questions is, however, does anybody else find this incredibly boring to follow? Most of the potential group winners, as well as the side that will finish last, will stand out to the average football fan, as well as the sporting bookmakers. There will be very few surprises, I suspect, reducing the entertainment value for everybody from what could be an intriguing spectacle. Why does UEFA still persists with this format when better alternatives are out there…
Elite level sport is all about competition and with that we need winners, rivalries and stories to follow. There is no point in San Marino being in the same group as England, or Azerbaijan playing Portugal. Both are going to get a beating and will most likely finish bottom of their respective groups. Splitting the different teams up based on rankings, would allow for a promotion/relegation set up, with the winners of each level getting promoted to the grade above and the better national teams competing for the most prestigious prize, much like the UEFA Nations League that has been going on for a few years now. The most important point here, though, is that at each grade there is a trophy and medals up for grabs for the players, with the potential for a champions of champions playoff, if we split each grade into two groups of five. This gives something for nations with a smaller footballing culture, or new UEFA affiliates like North Macedonia or Gibraltar to develop at their own pace and have something attainable to strive for. This is something that is sadly missing from the Nations League and, I believe, it is all the lesser for it. To introduce prizes at each level there is the potential for local and regional television and commercial sponsors to show a bit more interest, thus raising the profile of the teams in those specific countries. We could also allow for each of the group winners, below the top grade to go into a playoff system, where we could give the developing nations a chance to play against bigger teams for the additional match experience, as well as allowing the potential for us to see some upsets and giant killing. Hopefully UEFA are taking note…
