Who has qualified for Qatar World Cup 2022? Full list of teams and play-offs

Senegal and Portugal became the latest teams to secure qualification for the 2022 World Cup after contrasting wins on Tuesday.

Portugal defeated the dangerous North Macedonia 2-0 in a European play-off on Tuesday, securing a fifth World Cup appearance. It was one of seven spots in football's premier tournament that were decided on the day.

Robert Lewandowski converted a penalty in the 50th minute as Poland made it to their straight World Cup berth with a 2-1 victory over Sweden in their European play-off.

Meanwhile, there was controversy in Dakar as Senegal advanced following a penalty shootout win over Egypt after fans pointed lasers to Mohamed Salah’s face while he stepped up to take his team's first penalty kick.

Earlier, Uruguay and Ecuador sealed their spots at Qatar 2022, joining Brazil and Argentina as the automatic qualifiers from the South American group.

Uruguay beat Peru 1-0 and Ecuador lost 3-1 to Paraguay, while Peru beat Paraguay 2-0 in the last round of South American World Cup qualifiers to secure fifth place in the standings and entry to an intercontinental play-off.

Also, the UAE handed South Korea a surprise 1-0 defeat in Dubai to set up a play-off clash with Australia as they kept alive their hopes of a first World Cup appearance in 32 years.

In other Asia qualifying, Saudi Arabia clinched a second successive global finals place even before their 1-1 draw with China after Japan beat Australia in Sydney.

Japan also secured their place in Qatar. South Korea and Iran have punched their tickets by taking the top two spots in Group A.

Thirty-two teams, including the hosts Qatar, will play the showpiece event which starts on November 21. So far, 29 teams have qualified. Two intercontinental playoffs will be held in June along with two games to determine the final European berth.

Qatar 2022 will be the last 32-team World Cup before the 2026 World Cup across North America expands to 48 teams.

The tournament takes place from November 21-December 18, 2022.

Allocation of spots

Thirteen spots go to Europe, five to Africa, four-and-a-half go to both Asia and South America, three-and-a-half to North and Central America and the Caribbean, and half to the Oceania region. Those "half" spots earned by teams send them to a pair of intercontinental play-offs for the last two places at Qatar 2022.

Uefa (Union of European Football Associations)

Portugal defeated North Macedonia 2-0 and Poland saw off Sweden by the same score in play-off finals.

Italy's shock exit had North Macedonia hoping of their first ever appearance at a World Cup finals but Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal proved a step too far in Porto.

Twelve European sides have now clinched a place at the World Cup.

Gareth Bales' Wales will take part in the other play-off final but that match is on hold until at least June after the war in Ukraine led to the postponement of the Ukrainians' semi-final against Scotland.

Asia (Asian Football Confederation)

Twelve teams advanced to the third round of Asian qualifying, divided into two groups of six teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two from each group will qualify for the World Cup, and the third-placed teams will advance to the fourth round.

Harib Abdalla Suhail was the star as the UAE stunned South Korea 1-0 to advance to an Asian qualifying play-off against Australia.

North America, Central America, Caribbean (Concacaf)

Three direct slots and one inter-confederation play-off slot in the final tournament were available for Concacaf teams.

The US and Mexico both booked their tickets for Qatar 2022. US lost 2-0 to Costa Rica but still progressed along with the Mexicans, who beat El Salvador 2-0 on Wednesday. Canada had already secured qualification.

Costa Rica finished fourth in the standings and will face New Zealand in an intercontinental qualifier in June for a spot in the main event.

South America (Conmebol)

Five-time world champions Brazil became the first team from South America to book their place in Qatar following a 1-0 win over Colombia on November 11.

Lionel Messi secured a fifth shot at getting his hands on a World Cup after Argentina's stalemate against Brazil on November 16.

The top four teams in the single table advance to the World Cup, while the fifth-place team goes to an intercontinental play-off. Peru defeated Paraguay 2-0 for fifth place, and will compete for a berth against the winner of Asia’s fifth-place playoff between Australia and the UAE on June 7.

Oceania (OFC)

New Zealand took a big step towards qualifying for the finals for the first time since 2010 with a 5-0 win over the Solomon Islands in the Oceania qualifying final.

The All Whites will face Costa Rica in their intercontinental playoff.

Intercontinental play-off

One representative each from Asia, Concacaf, Oceania and South America will play two-legged ties to determine the last two World Cup berths. Those games are slated for June 2022.

Who won't be going to Qatar?

While there are still plenty of places to be decided, there will be plenty of big names that won't be at next year's World Cup.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

INDIA SQUADS

India squad for third Test against Sri Lanka
Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar

India squad for ODI series against Sri Lanka
Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul

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